METRO Cash & Carry divests business in Morocco

- Strategic portfolio optimization
- Label Vie acquires all business activities of the wholesaler
- EBIT contribution for METRO GROUP of a mid double-digit million amount, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to Metro Cash& Carry.

With the divestment of its business activities in Morocco the Dusseldorf-based wholesale operator Metro Cash & Carry is consistently driving its strategically oriented portfolio optimisation. The Moroccan retailer Label Vie will take over all activities in the said country including the eight wholesale stores effective from 30 November 2010.

"This was not an easy decision for us", said Joel Saveuse, CEO of Metro Cash & Carry Europe / MENA and Member of the Management Board of METRO GROUP, about the divestment. "We see no sufficient and sustainable growth and expansion perspective for the specific concept of our self-service wholesale business in Morocco. Label Vie offered both, a coherent future concept for our stores as well as an attractive price." Saveuse added: "This market exit also demonstrates that we are consistently benchmarking our country portfolio against earnings targets and will not hesitate to also make severe cuts".

MCC Morocco reached sales of €208 million in 2009 and employs around 1,400 people. Label Vie plans to maintain these jobs. The company already operates 32 supermarkets and two hypermarkets in Morocco and is the local franchisee of the French retail group Carrefour. Label Vie plans to turn the eight Metro stores into hypermarkets. The volume of the transaction amounts to €120 million, METRO GROUP is to receive a one-off mid double-digit million amount EBIT contribution from this divestment.

Metro Cash & Carry had taken over the Moroccan business in 1998 in the course of the acquisition of the European activities from a joint venture with the Dutch partner SHV.

With around 670 self-service wholesale stores in 31 countries, Metro Cash & Carry is the international market leader in self-service wholesale. With more than 100,000 employees worldwide, the company achieved sales of about € 31 billion in 2009. Metro Cash & Carry is a sales division of the METRO GROUP, one of the largest and most international retailing companies. In 2009 the Group reached sales of around € 66 billion. The company has a headcount of some 290,000 employees and operates more than 2,100 stores in 34 countries. The Group's performance is based on the strength of its sales brands which operate independently in their respective market segment: Metro/Makro Cash & Carry, Real hypermarkets, Media Markt and Saturn - European market leader in consumer electronics retailing, and Galeria Kaufhof department stores.