After a generally difficult business year 2022/2023, Metro stock is among the losers in the current trading year. Now the company has not only presented the figures for the past business year (ending September), but also given an outlook for the ongoing business year 2023/2024.

Good and surprising news for investors: Metro AG will pay a dividend of 0.55 euros for the completed year – at the current price of around 6 euros, this corresponds to a dividend yield of around 9 percent (as of December 14th, around 10.30 am). Whether the generous dividend will keep shareholders at the bar in the long run, however, must be doubted. Metro should also make the strategic homework at the same time.

Metro with mixed figures and cautious forecast In the completed business year 2022/2023, the wholesale group achieved sales of 30.55 billion euros, 2.7 percent more than in the previous year. At the same time, the adjusted EBITDA landed at the lower end of the forecast range with just over 1.17 billion euros and 15.5 percent below the previous year’s figure. At least: In the end, Metro was left with 439 million euros of profit after a decent loss in the previous year.

For the current year 2023/2024, the corporate management is not pessimistic, but somewhat cautious. Sales in the full year should increase between 3 and 7 percent, while the adjusted EBITDA should decline slightly. Here, a range of minus 100 million to plus 50 million euros is predicted from the 1.17 billion euros of the last business year. The company also expects increasing costs and a weaker Russia business in the current year.

Metro Stock: A surprising dividend will not suffice After the publication of the annual report, Metro stock has temporarily risen by 5 percent. This is mainly due to the announced dividend for 2022/2023 of 0.55 euros. However, on the one hand, the performance of the paper in the current trading year is still very weak overall – Metro stock has lost around 35 percent since the beginning of the year.

On the other hand, the dividend may attract or keep one or the other investor at the bar, but it is unlikely to be sustainable and is rather related to one-off effects. For Metro, it will probably be more important in the coming quarters to at least reach the given forecast and at the same time to drive forward the ambitious goals with a greater focus on supply. Both should be of great importance for a turnaround at the Metro stock.