Metro Group announces first quarter results

In Germany, sales first quarter sales receded by 2.6% to Euro 6.0 billion (US$ 8.9 billion), mainly due to the late Easter. International sales rose by 1.7% to Euro 9.5 billion (US$ 14.1 billion). In Western Europe, sales dropped by 1.9% to Euro 4.8 billion (US$ 7.1 billion). Sales in Eastern Europe grew by 2.5% to Euro 3.8 billion (US$ 5.6 billion). In the region Asia/Africa, sales again climbed significantly by 22.5% to Euro 0.9 billion (US$ 1.33 billion).

Compared with the first quarter 2010, net profit for the period before special items climbed Euro 1 million to Euro 16 million (US$ 23.7 million). The net profit for the period attributable to the shareholders of Metro AG (including special items) was Euro -3 million (US$ 4.45 million) compared Euro -16 million (US$ 23.7 million)in the year-earlier period.

Sales of Metro Group’s consumer electronics store chains Media Markt and Saturn rose by 0.8% to Euro 5.0 billion (US$ 7.4 billion)nduring the first quarter 2011. In Germany, sales climbed by 1.8% to Euro 2.3 billion (US$ 3.4 billion), driven by the successful start of the advertising campaign on the occasion of Saturn’s 50th anniversary. Demand in the first quarter 2011 focused especially on energy-saving household appliances and tablet computers. In Western Europe, sales receded by 2.3%. In France, sales declined appreciably as a consequence of the business divestment. The difficult economic environment as well as the high prior-year basis also resulted in a decline in sales in Spain and Portugal as well as in Greece, Poland and Hungary. By contrast, sales in the Netherlands improved significantly. In Italy, online sales grew by almost 15%. In Eastern Europe, sales climbed by 6.5%. Sales in Russia grew by more than one third. In Asia, the second Media Markt store in Shanghai with a sales floor of some 4,600 square meters was opened in February 2011.

Media-Saturn’s EBIT before special items came in at Euro 66 million (US$ 97.9 million), a drop of 18.5 percent year-on-year. Including special items, EBIT dropped 16.6 percent to Euro 65 million (US$ 96.4 million). In addition to the sales-related drop in earnings in Western Europe, also start-up losses in China weighed on earnings.