Metro is considering taking its Real hypermarket format to Russia. The German retailer declined to comment on the details of any possible rollout, but confirmed initial discussions had taken place following its entry into the market with cash & carry in November. "There have been talks, but no decisions," said a spokesman. "We usually start with cash & carry in a new market and then consider whether other retail formats would work." Although Metro has been expanding aggressively outside its home market through its cash & carry operation in recent years, it has so far only tested the Real format in two countries outside Germany, Turkey and Poland. The spokesman said the 25 Polish hypermarkets were performing very well, and while the currency devaluation in Turkey had hit sales, profits from the five hypermarkets had held up. In Germany, Real achieved strong like-for-like sales growth in a depressed market during 2001, and a 123.5% growth in operating profit to E117.8m. {{NEWS }}