Overview of financial year 2016/17 and outlook

Earnings position

  • Due to positive currency and portfolio effects, reported sales for financial year 2016/17 increased by 1.6% to €37.1 billion in local currency: +1.1%)
  • Like-for-like sales at METRO climbed by 0.5% in financial year 2016/17
  • Reported EBIT amounts to €852 million (2015/16: €1,219 million)
  • EBIT before special items: €1,106 million (2015/16: €1,106 million) on par with the previous year
  • Profit for the period before special items: €583 million (2015/16: €495 million)
  • Earnings per share before special items improved to €1.55 (2015/16: €1.33)

Financial and asset position

  • Net debt increased by €0.1 billion to €3.1 billion (30/9/2016: €3.1 billion)
  • Investments totalled €0.8 billion (2015/16: €1.0 billion)
  • Cash flow from operating activities reached €1.0 billion (2015/16: €1.2 billion)
  • Total assets amounted to €15.8 billion (30/9/2016: €16.0 billion)
  • Equity: €3.2 billion (30/9/2016: €2.9 billion); equity ratio: 20.3% (30/9/2016: 18.3%)
  • Long-term rating: BBB– (Standard & Poor’s)

Outlook for METRO

The outlook is based on the assumption of stable exchange rates without adjustments to the portfolio. In an effort to further improve the transparency of METRO’s operative performance, METRO will in the future report its earnings in the form of EBITDA excluding earnings contributions from real estate transactions. As the restructuring measures associated with the transformation of the group have been completed to the greatest extent, our future reporting will no longer include special items. Our reporting will also assume a continuously complex geopolitical situation.

Sales

For financial year 2017/18, METRO expects to see a slight rise in overall sales, despite the persistently challenging economic environment. We aim for our growth rate to at least match the 1.1% growth achieved in financial year 2016/17. The main growth driver will be METRO Wholesale.

METRO expects the like-for-like sales development to slightly surpass the 0.5% growth delivered in reporting year 2016/17. METRO Wholesale is expected to make a significant contribution to this growth.

Earnings

METRO is confident to deliver significantly improved earnings. We expect EBITDA excluding earnings contributions from real estate transactions to increase by around 10% compared to the previous year’s result (€1,436 million). Both segments are expected to contribute to this increase.