KarstadtQuelle's Return to Profit Set Back

KarstadtQuelle, the crisis-ridden German retail giant, does not expect to turn in a profit until 2006 instead of 2005 as expected, the group's chairman Christoph Achenbach told shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting in Düsseldorf Monday. At the end of September, Germany's biggest department store chain had said it planned to return to profit in 2005, when it expected to book operating profit of around €110 million ($143 million). But at the beginning of November, KarstadtQuelle revised downwards its sales forecast for the current year, saying it expected revenues to decline by around seven percent in 2004, instead of 4.5-5 percent as previously anticipated. KarstadtQuelle shareholders were meeting in Düsseldorf on Monday to vote on whether to approve an injection of fresh capital to ensure the group's survival. (AFP)