A new report by accountant and consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has revealed that Tesco has fallen to fourth place in the global retail rankings, with Germany-based Metro climbing to third place.
The Deloitte report, made public by UK newspaper The Times, showed that Metro had moved in behind second-placed French group Carrefour and the world's retail leader, US giant Wal-Mart, in the rankings.
According to The Times, the report showed that while the largest retailers had increased sales over the past 12 months, the economic downturn had led to a fall in profits at two-thirds of companies on the list.
'This has been a tumultuous year for the global retail industry,' said report author Ira Kalish. 'Many retailers 'bought' sales with heavy promotions that hit the bottom line hard. However, we are already seeing evidence that as economic recovery takes hold around the world, retailers should be able to return to a path of improving profitability.'
Deloitte's study revealed that sales grew by 5.5 per cent among the world's top 250 retailers for the year-long period, while average profitability fell from 3.7 per cent to 2.4 per cent. European retailers suffered the sharpest fall, with profitability down to 2.7 per cent from 4.1 per cent.
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