Auchan touts initial success of revival strategy | Progresiv
The Auchan group has said it is beginning to see the initial benefits of its ‘Renaissance’ revival plan, which helped boosts its profits for its fiscal first half. 
For the six months to end-June 2019, Auchan Holding saw its adjusted operating profit jumped by 29% to 307 million euros on a constant-currency basis, with adjusted net profit up 30.3% to 159 million euros on the same basis. The group also saw its EBITDA margin improve by 40bps to 4.3%.
Meanwhile, revenues were down a modest 0.6% to 23 billion euros, hurt largely by a 0.4% constant-currency decline at Auchan Retail (like-for-like down 0.8%). The latter decline was due to a 1.7% drop in sales across France and a 0.4% decline in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as by a 5.6% slide in Asia, which offset a 1.1% uptick in Southern Europe and a 33% jump in Senegal.
Edgar Bonte, Executive Chairman of Auchan Retail, noted: “These interim results show action taken by the Auchan Retail teams is contributing to the near-term turnaround of our company. The corner has been turned … The work on turning the business around is ongoing. The results at the end of June demonstrate our willingness to strengthen our financial and economic balances. The decision to dispose of our operations in Italy and Vietnam is evidence thereof, even though such disposals have had a strong negative impact on our results.”
The group added that it is aiming to generate an additional 1.1 billion euros in savings, as it aims to achieve EBITDA margin of 6% by 2020, without specifying where those savings will come from. Bonte categorically rejected speculation that Auchan may sell some outlets in France or Russia, although he did not rule out the closure of some outlets in Russia. (www.kamcity.com)
