Convenience stores boost Carrefour revenue in France

Carrefour, France’s largest retailer, reported fourth-quarter sales that met analysts’ estimates as revenue grew in all formats in its domestic market.

Total French sales rose 2.2 per cent on a like-for-like basis, excluding petrol, driven by growth at the company’s convenience store formats, the company said in a statement today. Total revenue fell 1.5 per cent to €22.2 billion, in line with the average of four analysts’ estimates.

Carrefour is midway through a three-year turnaround plan, which includes investing in France after retrenching from other markets where it viewed its prospects as weak. The retailer last month joined a group of institutional investors to buy 127 European shopping malls in a €2bn transaction, giving it more control of the sites around its domestic hypermarkets, its largest stores.

Currency fluctuations had a negative 3.8 per cent effect on fourth-quarter sales, Carrefour said. The grocer is comfortable with analysts’ estimates for full-year recurring operating income of €2.19bn, it said.

Carrefour’s domestic strategy includes maintaining low prices on food, stocking more non-branded goods on shelves and adding so-called drives, or pick-up points for online orders. Earnings in France jumped 75 per cent in the first half of 2013, while domestic hypermarket sales rose for the first time in more than two years in the third quarter on a same-store basis.