Accounting principles

METRO AG, the parent company of the 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 register at the District Court in Düsseldorf under HRB 79055.

These consolidated financial statements of METRO AG as of 30 September 2019 were prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

The consolidated financial statements in their present form comply with the stipulations of § 315 e of the German Commercial Code (HGB). Together with Regulation (EU) No. 1606/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 July 2002 on the application of international accounting standards, they form the legal basis for group accounting according to international standards in Germany.

The date at which the Management Board of METRO AG signed the consolidated financial statements (3 December 2019) also represents the date at which the Management Board released the consolidated financial statements for publication and submitted them to the Supervisory Board.

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 explained separately 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. Individual figures may not add up to the stated sum precisely due to rounding.

The following accounting and measurement methods were used in the preparation of the consolidated financial statements.