Metro's revenues grew by 10.1 per cent to around €60bn and sales in Germany increased by 8.3 per cent. International sales in the fourth quarter rose by11.7 per cent, and international share of Metro sales ammounted to 55.1 per cent.

"Business development in the fourth quarter was in line with our expectations. This also applies to Germany. Christmas business developed all in all to our full satisfaction," said Dr.Hans-Joachim Körber, CEO of the METRO Group.

The German supermarket increased its slice of the international market through the acquisition of Polish supermarket Géant and Wal-Marts German operations in a deal that was finalised on the 1 November 2006.

"Internationally we dynamically expanded our network with 55 openings and took over 19 Géant hypermarkets in the fourth quarter. In the fiscal 2006 we generated strong organic growth of 6.6 per cent and hold fast to our EPS outlook," said Körber.

The German food reatiler continued its international expansion throughout the quarter opening 24 new stores. The Russian branch was extended by four new stores openings and two stores were opened in Germany, France, Poland, Serbia, Moldavia, the Ukraine and China and one in Italy, Bulgaria, Croatia, Turkey, Vietnam and India.