German wholesale giant Metro was able to continue its positive sales trend in the second quarter of its financial year despite the “persistent tense economic and geopolitical situation”, which has coincided with a sharp slowdown inflation.
Sales across its 624 sites in 33 countries rose by 7.2% (3.9% in local currency terms), with all segments and channels contributing to the growth trend. However, adjusted EBITDA slipped from €111m to €73m, due primarily to the discontinuation of license earnings from WM Holding (HK) and other post-transaction effects.
“We are moving full steam ahead with METRO’s wholesale transformation in all areas,” said Chief Executive Dr Steffen Greubel.
“This applies both to expanding our delivery business and sales force as well as to streamlining our assortment and strengthening our digital offerings. This is reflected in positive key figures across all our countries: for example, the FSD sales share increased to 24% in the first half of 2023/24 as against 22% in the prior-year period, the digital sales share to 13% as against 9% and the sales share of own brands to 23% compared to 21% in the previous year.
“Also, the positive sales trend continued apace in a quarter that tends to be seasonally weaker despite the persistently difficult economic situation. We saw solid volume growth in the second quarter of 2023/24 with declining inflation. This shows that we are well on track with implementing our strategy and confident that we will achieve our growth targets for 2030.”
