FRANKFURT: German retail and distribution giant Metro said on Tuesday it expects to have achieved a ‘significant’ increase in quarterly profits, thanks to ‘very good’ Christmas business and gains from the sale of its cash-and-carry business in Vietnam. Metro, which runs its business year from October to September, said in a statement that ‘we can look back on a very good Christmas business, particularly in our domestic market, Germany’. It also said it had completed the sale of its cash-and-carry business in Vietnam successfully at the end of December. The proceeds were expected to boost underlying or operating profit by ‘more than 400 million euros’, which would be included in the first-quarter accounts.