METRO Cash & Carry International strengthens market and customer competence

Düsseldorf, 31 January 2008 – Kai Gürntke and Dr. Nicolas Ziegler joined METRO Cash & Carry in the positions of Corporate Head of Marketing and Head of Branding to further support the company’s market driven business approach.

“Further aligning our business along relevant customer needs has become the key success factor for our company”, said Dr. Peter Linzbach, Member of the Executive Board of METRO Cash & Carry International. “With Kai Gürntke and Dr. Nicolas Ziegler we therefore won to experienced professionals to further strengthen our market and customer intelligence”.

“Marketing at METRO Cash & Carry is a cross-functional challenge. It’s about thinking how to deliver concrete value and superior solutions for our customers in currently 29 countries. Hence, it is related to every aspect of the business model, the organizational set-up and of course leadership principles.” said Kai Gürntke. The new Corporate Head of Marketing at METRO Cash & Carry reports directly to Chief Customer Officer Dr. Peter Linzbach. Prior to joining METRO Cash and Carry Kai Gürntke held the position as Managing Director at BBDO Consulting, a strategic management consultancy.

“Today a strong brand is globally a key business driver. Especially in developing economies, market-driven brand communication creates real value for METRO Cash & Carry” added Dr. Ziegler, Head of Branding. Formerly Dr. Ziegler was Partner at PLEON, the communications consultancy of BBDO Europe.

METRO Cash & Carry is present in 29 countries with more than 600 self-service wholesale centers. With more than 100,000 employees worldwide, the company achieved sales of around € 30 billion in 2006. METRO Cash & Carry is a sales division of the METRO Group, one of the most important international retailing and trading companies worldwide. In 2007 the group reached sales of about € 66 billion. The company has a headcount of some 290.000 employees and operates over 2,400 outlets in 31 countries. The operating business is performed by the sales brands which operate independently in the market: Metro/Makro Cash & Carry – world market leader in cash & carry wholesale, Real hypermarkets, Media Markt and Saturn – market leader in consumer electronics centers in Europe, and Galeria Kaufhof department stores. More information at: www.metrogroup.de.

Contact:
METRO Cash & Carry International
Corporate Communications
Peter Wübben
Schlüterstraße 1
40235 Duesseldorf
Phone +49 (0)211 6886-1392
Fax +49 (0)211 6886-1395
E-mail: wuebben@metro.de
www.metro-cc.com