Executive Gilles Roudy, who ran Metro Cash & Carry until this summer, said a year ago that the business would return to growth in 2016, after stabilizing in 2015. Metro’s revenue stood at RON4.5 billion in 2015.
Unlike hypermarket, supermarket and discount store chains that work with consumers, the cash & carry chains like Metro work mostly with small retailers and hotel, restaurant and catering industry companies, that is legal entities. The small traditional retailers were hit hard by the crisis, on the one hand, and by the expansion of modern retailers in the past few years, on the other.
The rise in consumer spending and in the sales of small traditional retailers in 2016 indirectly benefits Metro Cash & Carry. Its net profit fell by more than 5% to RON14.1 million in the first half. (EUR1=RON4.4890)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)