For the 2025/26 fiscal year (ending in September), the owner of the Media Markt and Saturn electronics retail chains expects a moderate increase in currency-adjusted total sales following growth last year, it announced on Wednesday. Ceconomy also wants to operate more profitably: the holding company is forecasting adjusted operating profit (EBIT) of around €500 million. In the previous year, the figure was €378 million. The takeover by JD.com is expected to be finalized next year. JD.com has already secured a total stake of 85.2 percent in the Düsseldorf-based company. Ultimately, the group, which has grown large in online retail, wants to delist Ceconomy from the stock exchange.
In the past fiscal year, Ceconomy was able to boost its sales and operating profit. "This year makes us proud," said Ceconomy CEO Kai-Ulrich Deissner. Revenue increased by 5.7 percent to 23.1 billion euros, with the group's online shops growing by 13.3 percent. Adjusted EBIT rose by 72 million euros year-on-year to 378 million euros.
JD.com had offered Ceconomy shareholders €4.60 in cash per common share. This valued Ceconomy at a total of just over €2.2 billion. "With JD.com as our partner, we can accelerate our growth trajectory," said Ceconomy CEO Deissner. "The partnership gives us access to technologies, world-leading retail expertise, and supply chains that are unmatched globally," he emphasized. The acquisition gives JD.com access to large online stores and over 1,000 retail outlets, enabling it to expand its European business in competition with Alibaba and Amazon.
(Report by Matthias Inverardi, edited by Olaf Brenner. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)
