Accounting principles
METRO AG, the parent company of METRO group (hereinafter referred to as METRO), is a German corporation with registered office at Metro-Straße 1 in 40235 Düsseldorf, Germany. The company is registered in the commercial registry at the District Court in Düsseldorf under HRB 79055. By way of a transformation of entity type, registered in the commercial registry on 11 November 2016, METRO Wholesale & Food Specialist GmbH was transformed into METRO Wholesale & Food Specialist AG, which subsequently changed its company name to METRO AG with effect on 18 August 2017.
These consolidated financial statements of METRO AG as of 30 September 2017 were prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). They comply with all mandatory applicable accounting standards and interpretations adopted by the European Union as of this date. Compliance with these standards and interpretations ensures a true and fair view of the asset, financial and earnings position of the METRO group. The consolidated financial statements are published in the Federal Gazette (“Bundesanzeiger”) for inspection.
The present consolidated financial statements comply with the provisions of § 315 a of the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch, HGB). Together with Regulation (EU) No. 1606/2002 of the European Parliament and Council of 19 July 2002 concerning the application of international accounting standards, they form the legal basis for group accounting according to international standards in Germany.
Pursuant to Article 80 EGHGB, §§ 264, 285, 289 to 289f, 291, 292, 294, 314 to 315e, 317, 320, 325, 331, 334, 335, 336, 340a, 340i, 340n, 341a, 341j, 341n and 342 of the German Commercial Code in the version of the CSR Directive Implementation Act of 11 April 2017 (BGBl. I p. 802) must be applied to annual and consolidated financial statements as well as individual and combined management reports for the financial year commencing after 31 December 2016; the aforementioned regulations in their respective applicable versions prior to 18 April 2017 may be applied to individual and combined management reports for the last time in the financial year commencing prior to 1 January 2017.
The above regulations in their respective versions of the CSR Directive Implementation Act of 11 April 2017 have therefore not been applied to the consolidated financial statements and the combined management report of METRO AG and the group for financial year 2016/17. The combined management report for financial year 2016/17 of both METRO AG and the group were prepared in accordance with the above regulation in their respective versions applicable until 18 April 2017.
The date at which the Management Board of METRO AG signed the consolidated financial statements (30 November 2017) also represents the date at which the Management Board released the consolidated financial statements for publication and submitted them to the Supervisory Board.
These consolidated financial statements are essentially based on the historical costs method. Significant exceptions from this principle are financial instruments recognised at fair value as well as financial assets and liabilities, which are recognised at their fair values as hedged items within a fair value hedge. Furthermore, non-current assets held for sale and disposal groups as well as discontinued operations are recognised at their respective fair value less costs to sell, provided the latter is lower than the carrying amount. Liabilities from cash-settled share-based payments are also recognised at fair value. In addition, provisions are measured at the anticipated settlement amount. Financial liabilities from put options granted to non-controlling shareholders and financial liabilities from earn-out agreements (liabilities from contingent consideration in the context of company acquisitions) are recognised at fair value.
The income statement has been prepared using the cost of sales method.
Certain items in the income statement and the balance sheet have been combined to increase transparency and informative value. These items are listed separately and described in detail in the notes.
The consolidated financial statements have been prepared in euros. All amounts are stated in million euros (€ million) unless otherwise indicated. Amounts below €0.5 million are rounded and reported as €0 million. As of the previous reporting date, 30 September 2016, only the amounts in the income statement, the reconciliation from profit or loss for the period to total comprehensive income, the balance sheet, the statement of changes in equity and the cash flow statement were rounded to produce the respective totals. In all other tables, the individual amounts and the totals were rounded separately. Unless otherwise stated, all amounts were rounded off on the previous year’s reporting date of 30 September 2016. For additional clarity, the representation of decimal places in the tables has been omitted. Rounding differences may occur.
The following accounting and measurement methods were used in the preparation of the consolidated financial statements.