Carrefour's full-year earnings for 2014 were 'robust as expected, a positive on corporate governance', according to analysts Morgan Stanley.
"Overall, this is very much a routine statement from Carrefour," said Morgan Stanley in a statement.
"On back of the Q4 sales trading statement, which showed good momentum in France, group EBIT came in at €2,387m. At the net income level, this translated to €1,040m, or +28% YoY on a underlying basis."
However, it continued, some uncertainty on the corporate governance has been removed, with Carrefour indicating that CEO Plassat was expected to come back to office before the end of April.
Regarding France, it said that the country seems to have further benefited from the current plan implemented since CEO Plassat’s arrival three years ago, focused around improving execution - shrinkage in stores, logistics, empowerment of store managers, etc., and moving towards a more profitable sales mix (lower benefits from the loyalty card, competitive prices on national brands, etc.).
The French retailer unveiled plans to increase its investment in 2015 following its reporting of solid growth for its 2014 fiscal year.
For 2014, Carrefour's sales rose 3.9 per cent to €74.7bn on an organic basis while net profit jumped 24.6 per cent to €1.2bn.
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