A (CA), France’s largest retailer, reported first-quarter revenue that matched analysts’ estimates as a recovery at its Spanish and Belgian units contrasted with weakness in Italy and China.Revenue fell 3.7% to €19.8 billion ($27 billion), Boulogne-Billancourt, France-based Carrefour said today. That matched the median of 13 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales at stores open a year or more advanced 0.7%, excluding currency swings.
Carrefour, which is weighing selling a stake in its Brazil unit next year, is focusing on price and convenience as it seeks to cement a revival in France and strengthen sales in the rest of Europe, Latin America and China. Same-store sales in Spain gained 0.1%, Carrefour said, marking the second consecutive quarter of growth after six years of declines.
“The recovery continued in Spain and Belgium, Brazil continues to see high growth; but Italy is in freefall and China is still showing negative” same-store sales growth, said Bruno Monteyne, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in London.
Carrefour considers 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 today on a call with reporters.
The stock fell as much as 0.8% to €28.95 and traded 0.3% lower at €28.93 as of 9:23 a.m. in Paris, giving the retailer a market value of about €21 billion.
Moulin Stake
Motier SAS, the holding company of France’s Moulin family, this week said it acquired 6.1% of Carrefour. The investment is “strategic,” Motier said. The Moulin family also owns department-store chain Galeries Lafayette, which in 2012 agreed to sell a 50% stake in Monoprix to Carrefour rival Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA. (CO)
Same-store sales at Carrefour’s French hypermarkets fell 1.9%, while supermarket sales gained 0.2%, Carrefour said. The performance in Spain, which is Carrefour’s third-largest country by revenue after France and Brazil, contrasted with a 7.6% decline in Italy. Sales gained 0.5% in Belgium.
Latin American same-store sales gained 10%, excluding currency swings, Carrefour said. In China, sales declined 4% on the same basis. Total revenue from emerging markets fell 9.2% to €5.52 billion as currencies declined against the euro. At constant exchange rates, sales from those countries rose 8.6%.
The quarterly performance “shows pretty good control,” John Kershaw, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas, said by phone.
