Düsseldorf, Germany, 2014-9-25— /EPR Retail News/ — The Supervisory Board of METRO AG has, as expected, extended in today’s meeting the contract of the Chief Executive Officer Olaf Koch with unanimous vote. Koch’s current contract, which is running until September 2015, will be renewed until September 2018, the Duesseldorf based retailing and trading group announced on Wednesday.
“The Supervisory Board would like to thank Olaf Koch for his dedication and achievements in the past years,” said Franz Markus Haniel, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of METRO AG. “Under the leadership of Olaf Koch decisive measures for the new positioning of METRO GROUP have been taken. We increasingly see the success of the transformation and have full trust in Olaf Koch and his management team to continue successfully the path already taken.”
Olaf Koch started as Chief Financial Officer of METRO AG in 2009 and took over as CEO in January 2012. During his current term as CEO the sales lines of the company – METRO Cash & Carry, Media Markt, Saturn and Redcoon as well as Real and GALERIA Kaufhof – have been directed towards a stronger customer orientation as well as adapted to the changing environment due to the increase of online sales. Also the company started to consequently withdraw from business areas without sufficient income or growth potential.
METRO GROUP is one of the largest and most important international retailing companies. During the financial year 2012/13 (pro forma), it generated sales of about €66 billion. The company operates around 2,200 stores in 31 countries and has a headcount of around 250,000 employees. The performance of METRO GROUP is based on the strength of its sales brands that operate independently in their respective market segments: METRO/MAKRO Cash & Carry – the international leader in self-service wholesale – Media Markt and Saturn – the European market leader in consumer electronics retailing – Real hypermarkets and Galeria Kaufhof department stores.
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