French retailer Casino, whose shares fell sharply on Friday amid renewed concerns over its debt burden, disclosed on Monday the cash position of its Casino Finance unit.
The company also confirmed its 2018 financial targets and deleveraging goals after Standard and Poor's downgraded its rating on Casino by one notch from 'BB+' to 'BB', keeping a negative outlook. Shares in Casino, which have lost 45% since the start of the year, were up 2.4%, recovering from an earlier fall.
Technical Delay
USF short seller Muddy Waters said on Twitter on Friday that one of Casino's subsidiaries, Casino Finance, which issues bonds for the French company, had not filed its 2017 accounts.
A Casino spokesman said at the time that the delay was "technical" and that the unit's accounts were already integrated into the group's 2017 accounts.
Casino said on Monday the cash position of Casino Finance stood at €801 million ($930.12 million) at the end of June compared with €586 million at end-2017.
Casino provided the information in slides, saying this followed "questions raised in a recent meeting with investors".
Company Under Pressure
Casino and its parent company Rallye have been under pressure this year after investors voiced concerns over the complexity of the company's debt structure and financial reporting.
Standard and Poor's said on Monday it had downgraded its rating on Casino by one notch from 'BB+' to 'BB' and was keeping a negative outlook.
"The debt and financial leverage of Casino have remained above our expectations for the 'BB+' rating for over two years, despite good trading momentum and management's intentions to sell assets to reduce debt," S&P said.
By the end of June, Casino's net debt totalled €5.4 billion.
Casino said on Monday S&P's decision was not taking into account its plan to sell assets worth €1.5 billion and that it would have no impact on its liquidity or the cost of servicing its debt.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
