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METRO AG boosts group sales by 5.2 percent in first quarter of 2002

30.04.2002

METRO AG boosts group sales by 5.2 percent in first quarter of 2002

Duesseldorf, 30 April 2002 – In the first quarter of 2002 the Metro Group generated sales of € 11.82 billion, an increase in sales of 5.2 percent over the same period last year. The sales divisions were able to increase their sales by 5.7 percent. Primarily these rates of increase were achieved by way of a successful business development abroad. In the international markets Metro Group sales went up by 14.8 percent to € 5.34 billion with the growth rate in the Western and Eastern European countries, especially Poland, being particularly significant. The share of international sales in total group sales, due to the very good development of the foreign business in all sales divisions, rose to 45.2 percent in the first quarter thus exceeding the level of the same quarter last year by almost 4 percentage points. "The strategy of consistent internationalization of the group pursued in the last few years with the objective of further exploiting the growth potentials of foreign markets is paying off handsome dividends," noted Dr. Hans-Joachim Körber, CEO of METRO AG, on the occasion of the presentation of the business figures for the first quarter of 2002. "But in the domestic market we were also able to strengthen our position against the background of a declining market." On the basis of its successful merchandising concepts the Metro Group will continue to forcefully pursue its strategy of profitable growth also in the current fiscal year. In Q1 of 2002 18 new stores had already been opened. As a result the group was now represented at 2,259 locations in 25 countries. All in all, 68 percent of total capital expenditure was invested in the high profitability sales divisions Metro Cash & Carry and Media/Saturn.

The development in the German market was characterized by general uncertainty and restrained consumer spending in the wake of the introduction of the Euro coins and notes and the difficult macroeconomic situation. Yet, on the whole the Metro Group was also able to gain market shares in the domestic market and develop more positively than competitors. The Metro Group’s earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) could be increased from € 305.7 million to € 310.7 million by the end of the first quarter of 2002 in spite of the less than favorable background conditions in the domestic market. Earnings before interests and taxes (EBIT) declined from € 13.7 million to € -5.9 million in the first quarter. In the Metro Group the EBIT of the first three months makes only a minor contribution to the earnings of the entire year and is therefore not a meaningful indicator for the net income of the year.

Metro Cash & Carry further accelerates its high growth rate - The Metro Cash & Carry sales division further strengthened its dynamic growth in the first quarter of 2002 increasing its sales substantially by 10.0 percent over the same period of the previous year to € 5.41 billion. In the process Metro Cash & Carry grew particularly significantly in Western Europe with a growth rate of 6.9 percent, in Eastern Europe with a sales increase of 23.2 percent and in China with a boost in sales of 40.7 percent. As a result the foreign sales share of this sales division with the highest growth rate and the highest sales volume in the group and with operations in 23 countries, shot up to 76.7 percent. In comparison with the previous year Metro Cash & Carry increased the EBIT in Q1 of 2002 by 21.2 percent to € 34.6 million. This substantial earnings improvement was achieved in spite of persistently high capital expenditure in new locations and the modernization of the store network amounting to € 112.5 million. It is the consequence of a consistently and single-mindedly conducted expansion policy of Metro Cash & Carry above all abroad that was successfully continued in the first quarter of 2002 with the market entry in Vietnam.

Real expands market leadership in Germany and Poland - The Real hypermarkets were able to continue their positive business development in Q1 of 2002 expanding their market leadership in Germany and Poland. On the whole, Real sales increased by 2.1 percent to € 1.99 billion in the first three months of the current fiscal year. In Germany Real reached an increase in sales of 0.7 percent running counter to the generally declining trend in the hypermarket business. In Poland and Turkey the sales division made significant gains with a sales increase of 14.2 percent. In Poland sales were boosted by a double digit figure on a like-for-like basis. The earnings of the hypermarkets also improved. The EBIT rose by 34.4 percent to € -12.2 million in the first quarter of 2002. The consistent optimization of locations and the high acceptance level of the Payback customer loyalty program among Real customers helped to further promote the development of the sales division into a successful Retail Brand.

Changing customer behavior has repercussions on Extra - Q1 sales of the Extra convenience stores declined by 2.0 percent in comparison with the same period last year to € 707 million. Extra was thus not able to escape the industry trend. The reason for this general decline in business was a clearly noticeable customer restraint accompanied by high price sensitivity. In addition customer behavior was negatively impacted by the fact that fruit and vegetable prices had increased substantially in January 2002 because of considerable harvest losses in Southern and Southeastern Europe. Because of their assortment emphasis on fresh produce the Extra stores were particularly strongly affected by this. One effect was that the EBIT of the convenience stores declined from € -11.2 million to € -19.7 million. With the conversion of additional stores to the customer-focused Extra marketing concept we continued the course of a consistent concept optimization. In the meantime more than half of the 500 convenience stores have been switched to this innovative concept. The stores working on the basis of the new concept report a better business development.

Media/Saturn continues to grow abroad and expands market position in Germany - The consumer electronics centers of the Media/Saturn sales division gained additional market shares in the first quarter of 2002 thus further expanding their position of market leadership in Europe. On the whole they increased sales in the first three months of the current year by 5.9 percent from € 1.99 billion in the same period last year to € 2.11 billion this year. In Germany where in the first quarter of 2002 the industry sustained a dramatic sales drop in comparison with the same period 2001 the Media/Saturn sales volume of € 1.36 billion remained 1.9 percent below the level of the same quarter of the prior year. This was the effect of Q1 of 2002 having two fewer selling days than the same period last year on the one hand, and on the other hand, the sales division not repeating the PC sales activities conducted in the first quarter of fiscal year 2001. Internationally Media/Saturn again accelerated its sales tempo. In Western Europe sales went up by 16.7 percent. In the Eastern European countries of Poland and Hungary sales revenues of this division doubled. At Media/Saturn the foreign share of the business rose from 30.5 percent in the first quarter last year to 35.6 percent this year’s first quarter. Because of the substantially increased capital expenditure on the expansion of the domestic and foreign store network the EBIT in the first quarter of 2002 amounted to € 26.7 million as opposed to € 35.5 million in the same period last year.

Praktiker with clearly positive development in Eastern Europe - In the first quarter of 2002 the Praktiker home improvement centers reported a sales decline by 2.2 percent compared with the previous year to € 576.9 million against the backdrop of a continuing and substantial industry-wide drop in demand in Germany. However, with this result the Praktiker home improvement centers were still slightly above the industry average. In Germany sales went down by 7.3 percent. On the other hand, the sales division generated substantial sales increases in the international business. In the Eastern European countries it was possible to boost sales by a total of 33.3 percent over the previous year in the first quarter. In addition to Poland and Hungary the sales development was particularly positive also in Greece. The share of foreign business in the total sales of all Praktiker outlets increased from 15.1 percent to 19.4 percent in a quarter-by-quarter comparison because of the expansion of the store network in Eastern Europe. The EBIT declined only slightly from € -23.0 million to € -25.4 million.

Consumer restraint influences Kaufhof business development - The uncertainty and general buying restraint of consumers caused by the introduction of the Euro coins and notes in Germany had particularly serious repercussions in the first three months of the current year on the business development of the Kaufhof department stores with their assortment emphasis fairly and squarely on high value products. Admittedly, their sales in the first three months of the year 2002 went up slightly in comparison with the previous year by 0.4 percent to € 910.2 million but in Germany sales dropped by 6.1 percent to € 850.9 million. The Belgian Inno department stores acquired last year continued to develop positively on the other hand generating sales of € 59.3 million in the first three months of the year which is equivalent to an increase of 5.7 percent over the same period of the previous year. The sales decline in the first quarter of 2002 attributable to the general buying restraint on the part of customers also had a significant impact on the quarterly earnings. The EBIT dropped from € 7.2 million to € -7.3 million in a comparison of the two respective quarters.

Outlook - The Metro Group reconfirms its target for the current fiscal year of boosting earnings per share (EPS) by about 10.0 percent and increasing sales by 6 percent to more than € 52 billion. The basis for this is the already exceptionally successful foreign business in the first three months of the fiscal year as well as the improvement of the general economic situation forecast for the second half of the year in Germany and expected to lead to a normalization of the retail demand. Another important contribution to corporate success will be made in the current year by the scheduled consistent expansion of the presence of the Metro Group in the promising foreign markets of the future. To this end the Metro Group will make available a total capital expenditure of about € 2 billion in the year 2002 for the expansion and modernization of the outlet chain and will create a total of 7,000 new jobs worldwide.

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