German retailer Metro AG reported an acceleration in group sales growth in its fiscal second quarter, driven by a rebound in its consumer electronics business. Metro's sales rose 0.3 percent to 14.37 billion euros ($16 billion), slightly ahead of a consensus forecast for 14.33 billion. That was a like-for-like increase of 2.5 percent - faster than the 2.1 percent it saw in its first quarter.
Metro's core loss before interest and tax (EBIT), not counting one-off items, were steady at 40 million euros in the first three months of 2015, compared with average analyst forecasts for a loss of 45.6 million. Chief Executive Olaf Koch said both the cash and carry and Media-Saturn consumer electronics units were showing sustained like-for-like sales growth, while Real hypermarkets also reported a rise after a long period of decline.
"This shows that we are on the right track with our investments in the modernisation of the company and new concepts," he said in a statement, adding that online sales rose 23 percent in the quarter to 500 million euros.
The recovery was particularly strong at Media-Saturn, which had been losing sales to online rivals such as Amazon but is now investing heavily in e-commerce. Same-store sales rose 5.2 percent, up from 3.8 percent in the previous quarter.