French food retailer Groupe Casino has reported third-quarter net sales of €2.1 billion – down by 1.8% on a same-store basis.
Convenience brands Monoprix, Franprix and Casino had sales of €1.8 billion – down by 0.7% on a same-store basis, but largely supported by the solid performance of Monoprix, which went up by 0.9%.
Cdiscount net sales totalled €243 million, with a strategic refocusing that saw an 8% increase in the marketplace’s business volume, with adjusted EBITDA of €402 million over the first nine months of 2024 – a 6.4% margin.
Summer Disruptions
In a statement on Thursday, Groupe Casino noted that its employees worked hard to meet demand throughout the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, especially in the Paris region (Monoprix, Franprix), which saw a sharp acceleration in business during the first half of August.
However, the overall impact on Q3 was neutral, as these positive effects were offset by disruptions relating to security and installations for the Olympics opening ceremony and events, Parisians leaving earlier for the summer holidays, and fewer tourists visiting Paris before and after the Games.
In November, a strategic plan for 2028 will be unveiled, with ‘a renewed vision to become the leading convenience store retailer’.
Streamlining Continued
Store network streamlining continued over the quarter, with 141 unprofitable stores closed.
Monoprix recorded same-store sales growth of 0.9% over the quarter, reflecting the momentum of the Monop’ (+4.4%) and Naturalia (+3.9%) brands and a return to growth for Monoprix City (+0.5%), driven by its non-food performance (+3.6%).
Non-food sales were particularly buoyant this quarter, both in stores (textile sales went up by 14%) and online (textiles/home/leisure sales went up by 28%).
Monoprix continued to gain new customers over the period, with customer traffic up by 1.8%.
Disappointing September
Franprix sales went down by 1.2% on a same-store basis, mainly because of a disappointing September (-3.7%).
The brand is continuing its strategy of improving its price image, in particular, with a plan to cut prices on a selection of 150 of the top-selling products in September (a negative 0.5-point impact on sales at constant volume).
September was also impacted by unfavourable weather conditions, which reduced sales of seasonal products (-1.9 points), and the non-renewal of the dilutive ‘Bibi’ promotion in September 2023 (-1.9 points).
Franprix continued to gain new customers over the quarter, with customer traffic up by 0.8%.
Net sales by Casino brands (Vival, Spar, Casino, etc.) fell by 4.5% on a same-store basis over the quarter, in an environment that remains disrupted by sales of hypermarkets and supermarkets.
The Q3 results stated that hypermarket and supermarket disposals were completed on schedule, and that 425 stores had been sold since September 2023, of which 135 were sold in Q3, and 18 on 1 October.
The activity of all hypermarkets and supermarkets operated by the group has now virtually ceased, with the remaining stores to be sold or closed by year end.
