Tag Archives: Hypermarket chain

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METRO GROUP to adjust the goodwill resulting from companies acquired 17 years ago as part of sustainable repositioning of the hypermarket chain Real

  • Around €450 million impairment of goodwill from the takeover of Allkauf and Kriegbaum stores in 1998
  • No effect on Group guidance before special items
  • Major investments into stores and services intended

Düsseldorf, Germany, 2015-4-24 — /EPR Retail News/ — As part of a sustainable repositioning of the hypermarket chain Real, METRO GROUP will adjust the goodwill resulting from companies acquired 17 years ago. With this move, METRO GROUP creates a solid balance sheet foundation and more room to manoeuvre for the already successfully initiated repositioning of Real. Building on the success of the repositioning to date, METRO GROUP intends to invest extensively into the modernisation of Real’s stores and customer services in the next few years.

“During the past three years we have already significantly invested into the modernisation and realignment of Real and observe very positive developments at those hypermarkets that have already been converted to the new concept, especially in terms of sales”, said Olaf Koch, Chairman of the Management Board of METRO AG and also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Real SB-Warenhaus GmbH. “Based on the positive insights that we have gained from the modernisation process so far, we will continue investing into the concept conversion of our stores. However, our earnings are already strongly affected by distortions in the German pay scale structure and increased investments into competitiveness. Against this backdrop and to maintain the leeway required to this effect, we have now impaired this goodwill and thereby taken out the pressure from the balance sheet. As we are targeting a sustainable repositioning of Real, we intend to continue investing into the Real business model also in the coming years.”

“Specifically, METRO AG is recognizing goodwill adjustments in the amount of some €450 million in its consolidated balance sheet”, explains Mark Frese, Chief Financial Officer of METRO AG. This book value resulted mostly from METRO GROUP’s takeover of the Allkauf hypermarket chain as well as of the stores from the retail group Kriegbaum and their merger with Real in 1998. “This impairment of goodwill represents a non-cash special item”, said Frese. METRO GROUP therefore continues to expect EBIT before special items adjusted for currency effects to rise slightly above the €1,727 million achieved in financial year 2013/14.

Real has invested heavily into various measures for more customer centricity, including in particular, into the store infrastructure, merchandise presentation and freshness assortments, own brands as well as into the multi-channel appearance during the past 18 months. As many as 82 of the total of more than 300 Real hypermarkets have already been modernised and report gratifying growth in sales and customer frequency.

METRO GROUP is one of the largest and most important international retailing companies. In the financial year 2013/14 it generated sales of around €63 billion. The company operates around 2,200 stores in 30 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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Hypermarket chain Real announces management board changes

  • General Manager Jörg Kramer to become Head of HR
    Frank Kretzschmar joins management board as Chief Operations Officer
  • Labour Director Andreas Schrödinger assumes new task within the METRO GROUP
  • Contracts of CEO Didier Fleury and CMO Patrick Müller-Sarmiento extended by three years

Düsseldorf, Germany, 2014-10-3— /EPR Retail News/ — Hypermarket chain Real reorganises responsibilities within its management board. As the Mönchengladbach-based company announced subsequently to a meeting of the supervisory board, the management board positions for HR and operations will be reassigned. At the same time, the employment contracts of Didier Fleury, Chairman of the Management Board, and Patrick Müller-Sarmiento, Chief Merchandise Officer, were extended for another three years until August 2018, respectively September 2018.

Former General Manager Jörg Kramer will lead the HR department of Real as new Labour Director as of 1st of January 2015, taking over the position from Andreas Schrödinger, who at his own request, will leave the Real management board in order to accept new responsibilities within the METRO GROUP. In addition, Frank Kretzschmar, former Chairman of the Management Board of Media Markt and Saturn Austria, will manage the sales activities as new Chief Operations Officer (COO) and will be at the same time responsible for the region north from the beginning of next year. Together with CFO Henning Gieseke, Real’s Management Board comprises five members as before.

“The realignment of Real initiated by Didier Fleury and his team is returning first successful results,” says Olaf Koch, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Real and Chairman of the Management Board of METRO AG. “The early extension of the employment contracts ensures the required continuity during our transformation process. The reassignment of management responsibilities paves the way for the company’s future success. We would like to thank Andreas Schrödinger for many years of excellent work and also wish Jörg Kramer and Frank Kretzschmar all the best and success for their new tasks.”

As General Manager in the Real management board, Jörg Kramer currently is responsible for the sales region north, and furthermore coordinates all sales activities regarding national topics. He previously coordinated the non-food sector within the Real management board from 2004 to March 2013. Frank Kretzschmar joined the management board of Media Markt and Saturn Austria in 2005 and became Chairman of the Management Board in 2008. He also served as COO of Media-Saturn-Holding in Ingolstadt from 2011 to 2013. Andreas Schrödinger has been Labour Director and a member of the Real management board since 2003. He previously held various executive positions outside of the METRO GROUP, e.g. as HR Manager of the ABB AG.

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.

real,- SB-Warenhaus GmbH is a METRO GROUP company. real,- offers a comprehensive range of food and non-food products, high quality fresh items and attractive prices. All this makes Real one of the leading hypermarket companies in Germany. Under the umbrella of real,- Group, the company operates about 300 hypermarkets throughout Germany, as well as a 2 Drive-In-Food-Stores in Germany and the real,- Online-Shop. The company, employing about 40,000 employees, generated a sales volume of around €7.3 billion in the 2012/13 fiscal year (pro forma). Further information on www.real.info and www.metrogroup.de

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