42. Leases

METRO as lessee

METRO mainly rents land and buildings for its wholesale stores, distribution centres, offices and warehouses. The leases are individually negotiated and contain a variety of different terms and conditions.

The lease agreements for the properties are generally concluded for fixed periods of 5 to 15 years and include extension and termination options in a large number of contracts.

In addition, commercial vehicles such as trucks, forklift trucks and industrial trucks with terms of 4 to 6 years as well as passenger cars with a lease term of 3 to 4 years are also leased.

Other leases, which account for an insignificant portion of the leases, include the rental of technical equipment and machinery, IT infrastructure as well as business and office equipment.

• A detailed presentation of the right-of-use assets can be found in no. 18 – property, plant and equipment – development of right-of-use assets of leased property, plant and equipment.

• A maturity analysis of the liabilities from leases can be found in no. 30 – liabilities.

• A maturity analysis of the undiscounted payments can be found in no. 35 – undiscounted cash flows of financial liabilities.

In financial year 2023/24, there were no material expenses for variable lease payments that were not included in the measurement of lease liabilities.

The following expenses and income in connection with leases were recognised in the income statement.

Furthermore, additions to right-of-use assets and liabilities from leases include variable rental payments that are dependent upon price indices or inflation rates. These rental adjustments are made annually or when contractually agreed minimum changes are exceeded. In financial year 2023/24, these rental adjustments amount to €17 million (2022/23: €34 million).

The total cash outflow, which comprises repayment of lease liabilities (interest and redemption portion), payments for short-term leases, payments for leases of assets of minor value and variable lease payments, amounts to €613 million (30/9/2023: €671 million).

All reasonably certain cash outflows are considered for the determination of the lease liability and the corresponding right-of-use assets. Potential future cash outflows of €2,072 million (30/9/2023: €1,984 million) were not included in the lease liability as of 30 September 2024 because it is not reasonably certain that the leases will be renewed or not terminated.

During financial year 2023/24, lease extensions totalling €287 million (30/9/2023: €229 million) were exercised and included in lease liabilities using the incremental borrowing rate at the modification date of this lease.

METRO has no significant leases that contain residual value guarantees or purchase options.

Undiscounted payment obligations for leases that had not yet been commenced on the closing date and were thus not disclosed under lease liabilities totalled €65 million (30/9/2023: €17 million).

No sale-and-leaseback transactions were carried out in financial year 2023/24.

METRO as lessor

Lease payments due in subsequent periods from entities outside METRO for the rental of properties that are classified as finance leases or operating leases are shown below. In addition, the following rental income was recognised in the income statement: