CECONOMY AG BERLIN (Reuters) - German retailer Metro AG (>> METRO AG) reported faster group sales growth for its fiscal second quarter driven by its strongest performance in consumer electronics in eight years.
Sales rose 0.3 percent to 14.37 billion euros (11 billion pounds) versus a consensus forecast of 14.33 billion.
Like-for-like sales increased by 2.5 percent, faster than the 2.1 percent seen in the first quarter.
A loss before interest and tax (EBIT), not counting one-off items, of 40 million euros for the quarter was better than an average analyst forecast of a loss of 45.6 million.
"Despite the impact of the Russian rouble, EBIT before special items is better than consensus, suggesting that profitability in Russia is holding up," said Bernstein analyst Bruno Monteyne, who rates Metro "outperform".
Metro's Russian cash-and-carry operation has contributed a large chunk of the group's operating profit in the past but has suffered from the falling rouble since the Ukraine crisis.
Metro shares, which have risen by almost a third this year as the company's fortunes have improved and the rouble has strengthened, were up 3 percent at 0710 GMT.
Chief Executive Olaf Koch said both the cash and carry and Media-Saturn consumer electronics units were showing sustained like-for-like sales growth, while its Real hypermarkets also reported a rise after a long period of decline.
"This shows that we are on the right track with our investments in the modernisation of the company and new concepts," he said in a statement.
Online sales rose 23 percent to 500 million euros, it said.
The recovery was particularly strong at Media-Saturn, which had been losing sales to online rivals such as Amazon (>> Amazon.com, Inc.) but is now investing in e-commerce.
Same-store sales rose 5.2 percent, up from 3.8 percent in the previous quarter.
The cash-and-carry business, which accounts for almost half of sales, saw core earnings before special items fall 13 percent to 37 million euros, mostly due to the rouble.
Europe's fourth-biggest retailer, which saw its share price battered last year due to the company's large exposure to Russia, reiterated its forecast for a "slight rise" in sales and EBIT before special items for the full 2014/15 financial year.
Metro is holding a strategy day in Berlin on Wednesday to highlight the way it has restructured its business in recent years.
(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; editing by Maria Sheahan and Jason Neely)
By Emma Thomasson
