Metro: decreasing losses, increasing revenues

Metro AG, Germany’s largest retailer, said its first-quarter loss narrowed as sales rose for the first time in five quarters and the company cut expenses.

The net loss shrank to 16 million euros ($21.2 million), or 5 cents a share, from 98 million euros, or 30 cents, a year earlier, the Dusseldorf-based company said today in a statement. Sales increased by 2.3 percent to 15.5 billion euros.
Metro aims to lift profit by 1.5 billion euros over four years as it scales back spending and slashes jobs at its Cash & Carry unit. The retailer gets about a quarter of sales from eastern Europe, where sales fell 1 percent in local currency terms amid rising unemployment in Hungary and Romania – reports Bloomberg.com.