FRANCE: Casino Q3 sales climb on international growth

Third Quarter 2012 Sales

    Strong growth in sales at €11.8 billion (+35.2%), driven by International, which now makes up 60.4% of the Group’s operations

    Sustained organic* growth up in Q3 over Q2 2012: +4.2% (vs. +3.4% in Q2 2012)

        Internationally, very good performance (+8.8%) in sequential acceleration over Q2 2012 (+7.7%)

        In France, business is resilient (+0.2%), boosted by the excellent performance of Cdiscount (+22.8%) and by the improved trends on convenience and discount formats.

n the third quarter of 2012, the Group’s consolidated sales were up +35.2%. Organic growth* was steady at +4.2% (+3.8% including petrol and calendar effect). Group same-store sales increased +2.2% excluding petrol.

Changes in scope positively contributed +33.9%, primarily under the impact of the full consolidation of GPA as of 2 July 2012. Foreign-exchange rates had an unfavourable impact of -2.5%. The petrol effect was minimal for the quarter. The calendar effect was negative in France (-0.8%) and nil internationally.

* Excluding petrol and calendar effect; organic growth is growth at constant scope of consolidation and exchange rates.

In France, resilient sales on an organic basis

In France, organic growth was +0.2% in the third quarter excluding calendar, up sequentially over Q2 (-0.5%). Reported sales declined by -1.6% after factoring in the deconsolidation of a master franchisee at Franprix-Leader Price.

    Despite a soft consumer environment, convenience formats posted satisfactory results. Sales for Monoprix, Casino supermarkets and superettes continue to grow on an organic basis. Total sales for superettes are improving (+0.1% and +0.6% excluding calendar effect), compared to a decline of -2.9% in Q2 2012.

    Franprix-Leader Price posted stable sales on an organic basis, excluding the calendar effect, an improvement over the previous quarter (-1.3%).

    Géant’s performance was affected by the decline in non-food, in particular on multimedia. The banner continues and accelerates the reduction of its non-food selling areas.

    Inversely, Cdiscount stepped up its growth (+22.8%), benefiting from excellent performance during the summer sales.

    In all, non-food sales by Géant and Cdiscount grew +2.2% in the third quarter.

International: continued strong organic growth: +8.8%

Casino Group’s international subsidiaries generated strong growth once again this quarter. Sales rose +8.8% on an organic basis excluding the calendar effect. Total sales for International subsidiaries, which rose +79%, also benefited from the full consolidation of GPA.

The foreign-exchange effect had a negative impact of -5.5% on international sales in the third quarter 2012.

    Latin America posted strong organic growth of +9.6%, driven by high same-store growth in Brazil and dynamic expansion in Colombia.

    Organic growth for Asia is still very significant at +10.2%, due to the sustained pace of expansion, especially in Thailand, where same-store growth improved in the third quarter. 

Total International sales accounted for 60.4% of Group sales over the period, compared with 46% in Q3 2011.

Original source: Casino