"ON TRACK": Successful continuation of growth path and strategy implementation in FY 2022/23

METRO successfully continued its growth path and the implementation of the sCore strategy in the financial year 2022/23 despite a challenging market environment. METRO AG CEO Dr Steffen Greubel therefore draws a positive balance and sees the company on track: "We successfully continued our growth strategy in the past financial year despite a challenging environment and a strong prior-year basis. At the same time, the promises we made when introducing the sCore strategy – the consistent focus on wholesale and the expansion of the multichannel business – are more and more taking shape. This applies to the wholesale transformation of our stores and their conversion into multichannel fulfilment centres as well as to the expansion of our delivery depots, the progression of METRO MARKETS online marketplace and the growth of our M Shop ordering platform and our digital DISH tools. The consistent implementation of our strategy and the joint pursuit of our ambitions makes METRO ever better and stronger. We have also optimised our portfolio by selling our Indian business and strengthened our delivery business by acquiring the Swedish specialist JHB. Growth while increasing productivity also remains the focus for the current financial year. Thanks to the positive EPS, we are pleased to be able to propose a dividend payment of €0.55 to our shareholders for the past financial year and are confident that we will achieve our growth ambition for 2030."

Continuation of the growth path in FY 2022/23

In the financial year 2022/23, METRO successfully continued the imple-mentation of its sCore growth strategy and defended market shares. The wholesaler made significant progress in the strengthening of its delivery and online businesses, as well as in the optimisation of the wholesale approach of its stores. Overall, the past financial year was characterised by a challenging market environment due to the continued inflation, rising costs and the cyberattack in Q1 2022/23. Sales in local currency grew by 5.6% in FY 2022/23 despite the sales lost due to the cyberattack (low 3-digit million-euro amount). All 3 sales channels (store-based business, delivery and METRO MARKETS) as well as all segments except Russia contributed to this growth. As expected, EBITDA decreased and amounted to €1,174 million (2021/22: €1,389 million), due to significant cost inflation, the expiration of positive post-transaction effects (Real and China), the declining business development in Russia and the cyberattack.

The net income in financial year 2022/23 was €439 million and thus €770 million above the net profit for the period of the previous year (2021/22: €–331 million). The increase was the result of one-time effects. In addition, there were non-cash currency effects in the financial result. METRO achieved earnings per share of €1.21 in financial year 2022/23 (2021/22: €–0.92).

Elections to the Supervisory Board

The agenda of today's Annual General Meeting also includes new elections and re-elections to the Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board recommends the election of Mr Willem Eelman, member of the Supervisory Board and Chairman of the Audit Committee of IMCD N.V., Rotterdam, Netherlands, to the Supervisory Board. The current Supervisory Board member Prof Dr Edgar Ernst is not available for a new term of office, so that a new election is required. In the event of his election, Mr Willem Eelman has declared that he will stand for the office of Chairman of the Audit Committee, which was previously held by Prof Dr Edgar Ernst.

The Supervisory Board members Jürgen Steinemann (JBS Holding GmbH Mönchengladbach), Roman Šilha (EP Global Commerce a.s. Prague, and VESA Equity Investment S.à r.l. Luxembourg) and Stefan Tieben (RLT Ruhrmann Tieben & Partner mbB Essen) will be proposed for re-election at the Annual General Meeting. Jürgen Steinemann is still available for a term of office of one year and intends to stand for re-election as Chairman of the Supervisory Board if elected.

METRO is a leading international food wholesaler which specialises in serving the needs of hotels, restaurants, and caterers (HoReCa) as well as independent merchants (Traders). Around the world, METRO has approx. 17 million customers who benefit from the wholesale company’s unique multichannel mix: customers can purchase their goods in one of the large stores in their area as well as by delivery (Food Service Distribution, FSD) – all digitally supported and connected. In parallel, METRO MARKETS is being developed as an international online marketplace for the needs of professional customers which has been growing and expanding continuously since 2019. Acting sustainably is one of the company principles of METRO which has been listed in various sustainability indices and rankings, including MSCI, Sustainalytics and CDP. METRO operates in more than 30 countries and employs over 89,000 people worldwide. In financial year 2022/23, METRO generated sales of €30.6 billion. More information can be found at MPULSE.de, our online magazine.