BERLIN: German retailer Metro reported an unexpected loss in its fiscal third quarter largely due to restructuring costs at its core wholesale business in Germany, Belgium and Italy.
Quarterly earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), before special items, fell to 154 million euros ($172 million) on sales down 2.7 percent to 13.6 billion, missing analysts’ average forecasts for EBIT of 182 million on sales of 13.8 billion.
Metro shares, which are down 4 percent so far this year compared with a 2-percent gain among German midcaps, were indicated 2.1 percent lower in pre-market trade.
Metro reported a loss before interest and tax of 36 million euros after including one-off costs of 190 million euros, mainly relating to restructuring steps at its cash and carry business.
Chief Executive Olaf Koch said the costs were due to a decision to speed up steps to decentralise management of the business and overhaul stores, which he said should yield improvements in the business within three years.
Koch told a conference call for journalists the fall in sales in the quarter was largely due to weakness of the Russian rouble. He added the Russian business had seen its first period of positive like-for-like sales in June after a long decline.
He said plans to separate Metro’s wholesale and food business from its consumer electronics arm by mid-2017 were on track but he declined to give details.
Metro reiterated the group’s forecast for the 2015/16 fiscal year, which foresees a slight rise in overall sales and EBIT, excluding special items, despite what it describes as a “persistently challenging economic environment”.
