Groupe Casino has estimated the value impact of the 'gilets jaunes' protests on its stores at 'about €50 million in sales, or around 1% in like-for-like terms in its French operations.
Chief financial officer David Lubek made the assessment following the publication of Groupe Casino's Q4 and full-year sales, which showed that the group's France Retail division was up 1.4% in the fourth quarter, to €4.92 billion.
Géant Impact
On the protests, Lubek commented that the impact of the movement was "mostly felt at Géant, with around 30% of stores touched by significant blockades.
"There was also some impact at Monoprix and Franprix due to demonstrations on Saturdays and a reduction in tourism in Paris at the end of December, and finally a slight impact in Supermarkets where around 15% of the stores were somehow affected."
Franprix was arguably the most affected by the protests, with flat sales in like-for-like terms, and organic sales down 0.6% "due to the reduction of tourism flow in December", said Lubek.
Overall, Lubek described the quarterly performance as "quite a satisfactory quarter for the group, at the end of a successful year, with all the initiatives launched previously showing their results".
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine
