Carrefour SA, France’s largest retailer, reported third-quarter revenue that met analysts’ estimates as growth in Brazil compensated for a slowdown in Europe and China.
Revenue fell 0.1 per cent to €21.1 billion ($27 billion), Boulogne-Billancourt, France-based Carrefour said today in a statement. The figure matched the median of 16 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Organic sales advanced 2.8 per cent, excluding gasoline and calendar effects.
Carrefour, which agreed in June to buy back discount stores in France, is focusing on price and convenience as it seeks to cement a domestic revival. Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA, the French owner of the Géant and Monoprix supermarket chains, said this week that it saw a pickup in demand in September and early October after sales fell in its home market last quarter.
French sales at Carrefour gained 0.2 per cent on an organic basis, excluding petrol and calendar effects, despite heavy rainfall in July and August and a decrease in fruit and vegetable prices, the company said today. Brazilian organic revenue grew 13 per cent.
The grocer continues to consider the €2.38 billion consensus analyst estimate for 2014 current operating income to be “reasonable,” based on current exchange rates, Chief Financial Officer Pierre-Jean Sivignon said on a call with reporters.
Carrefour fell 3.4 per cent at the close in Paris yesterday, valuing the grocer at about €16 billion.
Bloomberg News, edited by ESM
