| Otto Group records double-digit growth to 10 billion euros online sales |
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FRANKFURT, Jan 8 (Reuters) - German mail-order group Otto said holiday season sales held up well in Germany while its operations abroad took a hit from the economic crisis. "Holiday season sales went very well in Germany despite the difficult economic environment," an Otto Group spokesman said on Friday. Germany's Metro (MEOG.DE), the fourth largest retailer in the world, will be give a trading update next Tuesday. Karstadt, the department store business of bankrupt parent Arcandor (AROG.DE) said late last month that Christmas sales were better than it expected. Otto Group is the second largest e-commerce business in the world behind Amazon (AMZN.O) and recorded sales of about 10 billion euros ($14.32 billion) in its business year 2008/09, it said. Including brands like Baur, Bonprix, Manufactum, myToys.de and Sportscheck, Otto's e-commerce business recorded double-digit growth rates, he added. But business in eastern Europe, the United States, France, the UK struggled to beat last year's performance. "In parts we had to put up with declines here compared to the previous year. This was due to currency exchange rate fluctuations as well as to the overall difficult economic situation in these countries," the spokesman said. On Thursday, German home improvement retailer Praktiker (PRAG.DE) posted a 10 percent drop in fourth-quarter sales mainly due to weak demand in eastern Europe, raising concern that the economic recovery may still take some time. |