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Metro AG's Intl business registers double-digit growth in Q3

01 Nov '06

3 min read

Metro AG continued on its growth path in the third quarter 2006. Group sales rose 6.3 percent to € 14.1 billion in a year-on-year comparison. Net of foreign exchange effects, the increase was 6.6 percent, thus exceeding the growth rate achieved in the first half of 2006.

International business reigned supreme, reporting a 11.9 percent plus in sales. The share of international business in total sales thus surged to an all-time high of 57.4 percent. Domestic sales of € 6.0 billion virtually attained the prior-year volume.

"In the third quarter, we continued our growth overall and expanded further in important areas", said the Chairman of the Management Board of METRO Group, Dr. Hans-Joachim Körber, when presenting the key financials. "The internationalization of the METRO Group is the guarantor for an unabated, dynamic high rate of growth."

The METRO Group succeeded in stepping up its growth dynamics even further in the challenging West European markets where the company achieved a plus in sales of 9.2 percent in the third quarter. In Eastern Europe, net sales rose as much as 15.5 percent, net of currency effects even 16.6 percent. In the Asia/Africa region, METRO Group succeeded in boosting further the growth in sales accomplished in the first half of the year. For the third quarter, the company reported a 17.9 percent plus in sales in this region (net of currency effects: 21.7 percent).

In the domestic market, sales almost reached the prior-year level at € 6.0 billion. Restrained business activity under the influence of the weather in July was compensated for by a pick-up in the further course of the quarter.

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