We were appointed to manage the closure and disposal of stock for METRO Denmark’s five stores following a decision to exit the country.  METRO Cash & Carry is the world’s market-leading self-service retailer, part of METRO GROUP, which has 250,000 employees working at 2,200 outlets in 31 countries across Europe and Asia.  Extraordinary market conditions and saturation in Denmark meant minimal growth prospects for the business.  We took on management and disposal of stock for all five stores, plus disposal of Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment (FF&E) within three stores.  The stores ran a closing down sale, offering strong discounts across all lines, to meet the closure deadline of 31 December 2014.  We also supported the company’s M&A sales activity by providing flexibility, allowing stores to be extracted from the closure process once sold, in order to maximise asset recoveries.  Our co-ordinated marketing campaign targeted both active and non-active members to increase sales, whilst advertising and in-store signage was used to communicate discounts.  We also continually replenished the fresh food offering, at our own risk, to ensure customer satisfaction and an increased cash result.  Our underwritten, guaranteed outcome allowed METRO’s management team to focus on the brand’s ongoing operations and growth.  We achieved greater sales proceeds, with an increased average transaction value and customer frequency levels, than METRO could have achieved alone.