Net financial result and taxes

Net financial result

The net financial result from continuing operations primarily comprises the interest result of €−128 million (2016/17: €−128 million) and the other financial result of €−2 million (2016/17: €−32 million). Interest is at the level of the previous year. The improvement in the other financial result by €30 million to €−2 million is primarily the result of more favourable currency exchange rates and the reversal of a liability from contingent consideration in the context of an acquisition.

Taxes

The reported income tax expenses of €235 million (2016/17: €295 million) are €60 million lower than in the previous year.

During the reporting period, the group tax rate for continuing segment is 33.9% (2016/17: 43.8%). The group tax rate is the ratio between recognised income tax expenses and earnings before taxes. Besides positive effects from tax rate changes abroad and lower impairment losses on deferred taxes, the comparatively low rate in the current financial year was especially due to lower expenses for risk provisioning and other one-time effects. The high rate of the previous year was influenced by expenses associated with the demerger, which did not result in reduced tax-expenses.

Profit or loss for the period and earnings per share

The profit for the period from continuing operations reached €458 million in financial year 2017/18, amounting to €79 million more than the profit for the previous year’s period (2016/17: €379 million).

The profit for the period from METRO’s continuing and discontinued operations reached €348 million in financial year 2017/18, amounting to €3 million more than the profit for the previous year’s period (2016/17: €345 million).

Net of earnings per share of non-controlling interests, profit for the period attributable to the shareholders of METRO AG from continuing and discontinued operations amounts to €344 million (2016/17: €325 million). This represents an increase of €19 million. An improvement of €95 million resulted from continuing operations.

On this basis, METRO achieved a result of €0.95 per share from its continuing and discontinued operations in financial year 2017/18 (2016/17: €0.89), of which €1.25 came from continuing operations (2016/17: €0.99). The calculation for the reporting period was based on a weighted number of 363,097,253 shares. Profit for the period attributable to the shareholders of METRO AG was distributed according to this number of shares. There was no dilution from so-called potential shares in financial year 2017/18 or in the previous year.

This result forms the basis for the dividend recommendation.