Profit or loss for the period and earnings per share

The profit or loss for the period from continuing operations in financial year 2018/19 was € 411 million, €52 million higher than the profit or loss for the period of the previous year (2017/18: €359 million).

The profit or loss for the period from continuing and discontinued METRO operations was €−115 million in financial year 2018/19, and was thus €−453million below the net result for the period for the previous year’s period (2017/18: €337 million). This decrease was mainly due to an impairment of €401 million in the hypermarket business.

Net of earning shares of non-controlling interests, profit for the period attributable to the shareholders of METRO AG from continuing and discontinued operations amounts to €−126 million (2017/18: €333 million). This represents a decrease of €459 million. An improvement of €49 million resulted from continuing operations.

On this basis, METRO achieved a result of €−0.35 per share from its continuing and discontinued operations in financial year 2018/19 (2017/18: €0.92), of which €1.12 came from continuing operations (2017/18: €0.98). The calculation for the reporting period was based on a weighted number of 363,097,253 shares. Profit or loss for the period attributable to shareholders of METRO AG was distributed according to this number of shares. There was no dilution from so-called potential shares in financial year 2018/19 or in the previous year.

The profit or loss for the period from an outlook perspective (continuing operations including METRO China) reached €523 million in financial year 2018/19 and was thus €80 million above the net income for the period of the previous year (2017/18: €443 million). For a tax expense of €341 million, this corresponds to a tax rate of 39.0%. In financial year 2018/19, METRO recorded earnings per share from continuing operations including METRO China of €1.44 (2017/18: €1.22).

This result forms the basis for the dividend recommendation.