FRANCE: Carrefour reports growth in Q3

By: just-food.com | 17 October 2007

Carrefour has reported a rise in its third quarter sales of 5.8%, despite a fall in sales in its home market of France.

The company said in a statement that overall sales reached EUR23,109m, helped by a robust performance in Spain and continued strong trends in its growth markets.

In France, Carrefour said it had witnessed less deflation in what was still a very competitive market and had seen its hypermarkets continue to grow share in the period on the back of a "consistent and determined pricing strategy".

However, the company added that: "Overall, sales growth was impacted by a strong negative calendar impact in the period (-2%), the impact of a poor summer on apparel and other seasonal items, and our decision to stop selling petrol at a loss to our franchisees (-1.2%)."

Sales in France fell by 2% in the quarter, with like-for-like food sales down 0.8%.

Growth in Europe was driven by robust performance in Spain, where like-for-like sales in its hypermarkets were driven by a strong performance in food and consumer electronics.

Sales in Europe outside of France increased by 4.2% on constant exchange rates. Like-for-like sales fell slightly, down 0.5%. Spain recorded robust sales trends with like-for-like growth of 1.2%.

Sales fell in both Belgium and Italy by 4.4% and 2.0% respectively. Carrefour said that "major efforts" are underway to remedy weak sales trends in Belgium and Italy.

The company said that its growth markets grew sales overall by around 30%, with sales in Latin America increasing strongly, up 49.3% on constant exchange rates.

Sales overall in Asia increased by 16.6% on constant exchange rates or 12.5% on current exchange rates. Like-for-like sales in the region were up 3.6%.

Overall, in the quarter the company opened or acquired 385 new stores under banner accounting for 370,000 m² of new space.

Companies: Carrefour