Wholesale giant Metro has posted year-on-year sales growth of 27.2% on a local currency basis to €7.9 billion in the third quarter of its financial year.
The company attributed its performance to the implementation of the sCore strategy, as well as rising inflation and growth in the HoReCa segment.
Dr Steffen Greubel, CEO of Metro AG, commented, “Metro is significantly growing across all channels and segments, we are selling more goods and we are seeing notable business success in the countries.
“With the latest launch of the online marketplace Metro Markets in Italy and the continuous expansion of our sales force and our digital and delivery services, we continue to implement our strategy consistently.”
Quarterly Highlights
Metro saw growth across all channels, with store-based sales increasing by 18.7% to €6.1 billion, delivery sales by 64.4% to €1.8 billion and Metro Markets sales by 49.7% to €18 million.
Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter increased to €441 million from €310 million in the same period last year, driven by good performance in the West, Germany and the East.
However, the company incurred a net loss of €290 million during the quarter due to macroeconomic volatility and the sale of its Belgian business.
Regional Performance
In Germany, reported sales increased by 17.3% year-on-year, driven by positive developments in its HoReCa business, inflation and Easter business.
Adjusted EBITDA increased to €64 million from €31 million in the same period last year, driven by sales growth and ‘stringent’ cost management, the company noted.
In the West, reported sales witnessed 31.7% year-on-year growth during the quarter with nearly all countries contributing with double-digit growth figures.
While all customer groups saw positive growth, the strongest growth was seen in the HoReCa business, which outperformed the market again in France, Spain and Italy.
As a result, the adjusted EBITDA for the segment increased to €203 million during the quarter.
In Russia, sales in local currency increased by 3.4%, with the HoReCa customer group and, in particular, the FSD business contributing to this growth.
In the East segment, sales in local currency increased by 33.3%, with nearly all countries contributing to this performance.
Growth was primarily driven by good performance in the HoReCa business. Turkey witnessed the biggest sales growth, driven mainly by inflation, while in Ukraine, business sales declined by 36.9% due to the war.
The others segment saw sales up by €15 million to €31 million, driven mainly by the strong growth of Metro Markets in Germany and its expansion into Spain.
Delivery sales increased by 64% to €1.8 billion, registering a record sales share of over 22%, Metro added.
Outlook
The company confirmed its outlook for its financial year 2021/22, which was raised for the second time in July.
Greubel added, “Turbulences on the world markets and their consequences continue to leave their mark. Therefore, challenges such as inflation and the availability of energy and commodity are currently on top of our agenda and we are pro-actively managing these issues with foresight for our company and our customers.”
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
