With like-for-like sales growth of 2.5%, METRO GROUP continued the positive trend in its operating business during the second quarter of the financial year 2014/2015.
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In spite of very negative currency effects, reported group sales also increased by 0.3%. At €-40 million, EBIT before special items was unchanged from previous years's. Adjusted for currency effects, EBIT before special items rose significantly compared with the previous year.
With like-for-like sales growth of 2.2%, the group's business also developed favourably during the first half of 2014/2015, supported by the earlier Easter business compared with the previous year.
METRO GROUP's online retail and delivery businesses continued to gain momentum during the first half of 2014/2015: Delivery sales grew by 10.5% to €1.4 billion (H1 2013/14: €1.3 billion). In Q2 2014/2015, delivery sales also rose sharply by 10.2% to €0.7 billion.
During the first half of 2014/2015, METRO GROUP's online sales totalled €1.0 billion, an increase of about 27% compared with the previous year's period. Online sales also grew substantially during the second quarter of 2014/2015, rising by 23% to €0.5 billion.
Adjusted for currency effects and portfolio changes, METRO GROUP posted sales growth of 2.8% during the first half of 2014/2015 (October 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015) compared with the previous year's period. With €32,7 billion reported sales came in slightly below previous year's level.
This is due mostly to the disposal of Real in Eastern Europe as well as to significant negative currency effects in large parts of Eastern Europe, particularly Russia and Ukraine. On a like-for-like basis, sales increased markedly by 2.2%.
In the second quarter (January 1 to March 31, 2015), sales adjusted for currency effects and portfolio changes grew by 3.2%. Despite high negative currency effects, reported sales increased by 0.3% to €14.4 billion. Like-for-like sales in-creased by 2.5%, the strongest gain in 7 years. This positive development was supported by the earlier Easter business compared with the previous year.
Net debt of METRO GROUP amounted to €5.6 billion on 31 March 2015, a drop of around €800 million compared with the total on 31 March 2014. ■