Manutan reported that its first quarter sales ended December 1, 2011 were down 1.9% to 152 million euros as the the French mail order office supplies company, which is present in 20 European countries, was hit by the deteriorating economic environment.
 

Manutan’s East and Central European operations were significantly affected by economic conditions and recorded a decline of more than 10% during the quarter. The North Zone (Scandinavia) performed well with growth of more than 2%, on top of sales that were already up 18% in the first quarter of fiscal 2010/2011.

The Western Zone (UK & Ireland), despite a difficult economic context, recorded a slight increase in its activity. The Southern Zone, driven by the strong performance of Manutan France, recorded an increase of 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year.