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Metro sales dip on strong euro

The German retail giant Metro, number three worldwide, said Tuesday that 2009 sales fell by 3.6 percent to €65.5 billion ($95 billion), a result of negative foreign exchange rates.

Metro sales dip on strong euro
Photo: DPA

Metro said that when the effect of the euro’s strength against other currencies was stripped out, sales would have gained 0.2 percent. Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast slightly higher sales of €65.9 billion.

In its main market of Germany, the drop in sales was limited to 0.6 percent

at €20.9 billion despite the country’s worst post-war recession, provisional figures showed.

In Eastern Europe, the fall of local currencies against the euro led to a 12.8 percent drop in sales to €15.8 billion. Without the foreign exchange effect, they would have gained 1.4 percent, Metro said.

The group, made it through “a year that was generally satisfactory,” boss Eckhard Cordes was quoted by a statement as saying. “We developed our position in many markets during this unprecedented crisis,” he stressed.

The group has launched a cost-reduction programme aimed at saving €1.5 billion by 2012, and increased its investment budget to 1.9 billion from 1.6 billion previously. Metro plans to open many new stores this year, mainly in eastern Europe and Asia, and is aiming in particular to get a foothold in China.

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FRANKFURT

Emergency numbers fail in several German states

Callers to the emergency numbers 110 and 112 weren’t able to reach operators Thursday morning in several German states.

The 112 emergency number on an ambulance.
The 112 emergency number on an ambulance. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Boris Roessler

The emergency number 110 for police and 112 for fire crews failed around the country early Thursday morning, with callers unable to reach emergency operators for urgent assistance between about 4:30 am and 5:40 am local time.

The Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Aid is looking into these outages, which were reported in states including Lower Saxony, Baden-Württemberg, and  Brandenburg, and in major cities like Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, and Frankfurt. Cologne was further affected by cuts to electricity, drinking water, and regular telephone services. Lower Saxony also saw disruptions to the internal phone networks of police and hospitals.

Emergency services are not reporting any more disturbances and people should be able to once again reach 110 and 112 around the country as normal.

Investigators are looking into the problem, but haven’t yet established a cause or any consequences that may have happened due to the outage. Provider Deutsche Telekom says they have ruled out the possibility of an attack by hackers.

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