Carrefour has posted a 0.5% like-for-like increase in sales in its home market of France in the first quarter of the year, driven by what it says was a ‘good performance in convenience’. However, its French hypermarket division posted a 1.6% decline.
The group posted French sales of €9.4 billion for the quarter.
Internationally, meanwhile, Carrefour posted sales of €11.9 billion, which was a 2.1% like-for-like increase. The group’s Asia division posted a like-for-like decline in sales (-4.0%), however Latin America (+7.8%) and Other European Countries (+0.9%) saw a rise in sales.
Overall sales for the quarter were €21.3 billion.
Food Sales
Carrefour noted that food sales ‘ showed solid growth, rising by 5.9% in the quarter’. In addition its ‘omnichannel approach continued to gain momentum with a significant increase of +34% in Group Gross Merchandise Value this quarter’.
In European markets, its like-for-like sales in Spain were up 0.3% in the quarter, while Italian like-for-like sales were up 1.6%. The group said that like-for-likes ‘remained very dynamic’ in Poland and in Romania.
Format Performance
In terms of formats, Carrefour said that ‘total sales at hypermarkets were down -0.8% (-1.6% LFL) in an environment that remained highly promotional throughout the quarter.
'Other formats continued to perform well, with total supermarket sales up +1.1% (+2.2% LFL) and total sales in convenience and other formats continuing to be particularly solid at +5.5% (+4.4% LFL), benefiting from the growth of e-commerce and the positive momentum of exDIA stores converted to Carrefour banners for more than 12 months’.
Commenting on its performance, Barclays European Food Retail Equity Research said, "We remain concerned by the intense promotional activity in France, the continuing sluggish non-food sales at the group’s French hypermarkets as well as the impact of decelerating food inflation on Carrefour’s performance in some important countries (Brazil and to a lesser extent Spain).
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
