Carrefour Romania, plus 6% in 2018, up to 2.13 billion euros | Progresiv
Romania continues to be one of the most dynamic markets for the French group Carrefour, ranking second in the top 2018 sales growth over the previous year. The annual financial report of the retailer indicates an increase of 6.1% on the Romanian market, the advance in lei sales being 7.9% and the like-for-like growth rate - 4.3%. 
Thus, Carrefour's total sales in Romania (including VAT) reached 2.13 billion euros at the end of last year, after the company completed 34 expansion projects in 2018, of which two are hypermarkets in the province and 4 cash & carry Supeco discount stores.
Referring to the last quarter of 2018, the report notes that European markets remain difficult, but "growth has continued in Romania at a similar 3.2 percent likelihood to Q4 in 2017, expansion in the cash & carry segment with Supeco being a successful project, as well as in Poland (+ 2.1% like-for-like) - a market where Carrefour's commercial initiatives canceled the negative effect of the prohibition imposed on most stores to operate on Sundays".
Romania, star-market for the French
Only Argentina outpaced Romania in terms of rhythm of sales growth in 2018, reporting an increase of nearly 30% compared to the previous year, but the devaluation of the local currency against the euro brought the group a 25% decline in this market, at the level of sales in euro.
In Latin America, Brazil is the largest market for Carrefour, with sales of nearly 13.1 billion euros in 2018, like-for-like growth of about 4%, but at the level of euro sales there was a decline of almost 10 % due to the depreciation of the local currency.
In France, Carrefour sales reached 20.76 billion euros (including VAT) at the end of last year, up by 1.1% compared to 2017. In comparable terms, sales were down (-1.4% like-for-like) on this market. The convenience store segment is the only one that has seen line ups during this period. "Yellow jacket protests have mainly affected sales of hypermarkets and non-food categories", the report said.
Like-for-like growth refers to local currency sales in stores older than one year, thus excluding the impact of new openings in supermarkets and hypermarkets last year and exchange rate fluctuations.
