In 2012 sales increased by 1.7% to € 31.6billionwith Russia, China and Turkey in particular contributing to this positive trend. Like-for-like, sales improved by 0.2%. Adjusted for the disposal of Makro UK, revenues grew by 3.2%. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) before special itemsdropped by 17.5% to € 947million. This decline was caused by, among other reasons, the wholesale company’s investment into customer value improvement.
The share of international sales at METRO Cash & Carry rose again from 83.5% to 84.5% in 2012. In its home market Germany, sales decreasedby 3.3% to € 5.0 billion, mainly due to store portfoliooptimisationwhich saw 10 closures in Q4 2011, and a weaker non-food business. Like-for-like, sales came in only 0.7% lower.
In 2012 METRO Cash & Carry managed to add 46 markets across all regions it operates to the company’s vast international network. In China alone 12 stores were opened, the best annual opening record for a single country market in the firm’s history. While the expansion pace was maintained in Eastern Europe, there were also openings realised in France, Belgium, Italy and Spain. Adjusted for the disposal of 30 Makro UK stores, METRO Cash & Carry operated 743 wholesale stores in 29 countries at the end of 2012.
METRO Cash & Carry has consistently implemented a range of strategic customer value measures through 2012 including a customer-driven assortment adaptationas well as the fast-growing delivery business. The delivery sales have gained momentum to register more than 30% increase to€2.2 billion (2011: €1.6 billion). The sales of its own brand ranges climbed to 16.7%in 2012.
In Romania, METRO Cash & Carry reached in 2012 sales of € 1,018 billion. Now METRO Cash & Carry runs a network of 32 stores with 5.440 employees in Romania. “In 2012 we have clearly defined key strategic priorities to position our company more connected with our customers. A number of customer-driven measures have been successfully implemented to sustainably enhance the customer value and our company’s competitiveness. We will certainly carry on in this regard for long-term growth.”, said Dusan Wilms, Managing Director at METRO Cash & Carry Romania.
In financial year 2012, METRO GROUP recorded a robust development overall in a challenging macroeconomic environment. Group sales rose by 1.2% to € 66.7 billion; adjusted for portfolio measures, sales climbed by 2.3%. EBIT before special items came in at € 1.976 billion and therefore in line with the revised guidance. At the same time, the company improved its operating cash flow by 11.9% to € 2.340 billion and reduced its net debt by 20.4% to € 3.245 billion. “The continued challenging consumer environment in many European countries resulting from the sovereign debt crisis again impacted business development at METRO GROUP in 2012”, said Olaf Koch, Chairman of the Management Board of METRO AG. “Thanks to first successes of our measures to enhance the customer value we nevertheless met our guidance and significantly improved our cash flow and debt position”.
METRO Cash & Carry is represented in 29 countries with over 700 self-service wholesale stores. With a headcount of more than 120,000 employees worldwide, the wholesale company achieved sales of about € 32 billion in 2012. METRO Cash & Carry is a sales division of METRO GROUP. METRO GROUP is one of the largest and most international retailing companies. In 2012 the Group reached sales of around € 67 billion. The company has a headcount of over 280,000 employees and operates around 2,200 stores in 32 countries. The Group’s performance is based on the strength of its sales divisions which operate independently in their respective market segment: Metro/Makro Cash & Carry – the international leader in self-service wholesale, Real hypermarkets, Media Markt and Saturn – European market leader in consumer electronics retailing, and Galeria Kaufhof department stores. More information at: www.metrogroup.de.
METRO Cash & Carry Romania is part of METRO Cash & Carry International and was officially launched in Romania in October 1996, when the first self-service wholesale store opened in Bucharest. Today, the network has 32 stores in 24 cities. The national distribution of the METRO Romania stores is as follows: 5 centres in Bucharest, 2 centres in Brasov, Constanta, Timisoara and Pitesti and one centre in each of the following cities: Cluj, Bacau, Iasi, Craiova, Baia Mare, Galati, Ploiesti, Oradea, Sibiu, Suceava, Tg. Mures, Arad, Deva, Braila, Satu Mare, Piatra Neamt, Buzau, Targoviste and Turda. More information at: www.metro.ro.
