3. Selling expenses

With regard to selling expenses, the decline in cost of material compared to the previous year resulted in particular from reduced advertising costs and lower recruitment costs. The sale of METRO’s IT companies led to a reduction in depreciation and amortisation at METRO DIGITAL, but IT costs increased due to the agreements entered into with external service provider Wipro. The country exits from Japan, Myanmar and Classic Fine Foods Philippines led to a rise in impairment losses on property, plant and equipment compared with the previous year.