The CEO of French retailer E.Leclerc has said he wants to leapfrog Carrefour as the country’s number one retailer by 2015.

Michel-Edouard Leclerc, speaking to French newspaper Le Monde, said: “Our objective is to dethrone Carrefour between now and 2015, thanks to an annual growth rate of 4.5% to 5.5% a year.”

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He added that he wants to increase the company’s market share from 17.5% to 18% in 2012 by dropping prices and enhancing its online sales.

Carrefour is struggling in France and has issued a number of profit warnings. The most recent was announced two weeks ago, when the world’s second-largest retailer said last week that its annual operating income could fall by 15-20% this year.

Last week, shareholder Knight Vinke Asset Management also urged the French retail giant to appoint an independent chairman.

In an open letter to Carrefour stakeholders, Knight Vinke CEO Eric Knight said the investment fund, which owns 1.5% in the retailer, “cannot stand by and watch without reacting” to the retailer’s struggles.

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