German retail giant Metro Group said it is “well-prepared” and “confident” for the Christmas trading period, despite booking a drop in year-to-date sales.
In the nine months to the end of September, sales fell 2.2% to EUR46.3bn (US$62.7bn), Metro reported today (17 October).
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In Metro’s Cash & Carry division, sales were hit by the divestment of Makro UK in March last year, in addition to negative currency effects in Russia, Turkey, India and Japan. Revenues from the unit dipped by 2% to EUR22.6bn. Sales in the group’s Real division were also hit by divestments, dropping by 8.3% to EUR7.3bn.
Despite the declines, group sales met analysts’ estimates: The average estimate of 12 analysts polled by Bloomberg was EUR46.4bn.
“We have delivered what we promised in the short financial year 2013,” said chairman Olaf Koch. “We reached our sales target and can confirm our EBIT guidance.”
The group expects EBIT before special items to “slightly” exceed the prior year level of EUR706m.
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By GlobalDataMetro is scheduled report its fiscal 2013 earnings in December.
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