FRANCE: Carrefour tops estimates despite Q2 slowdown | Progresiv
Carrefour has reported slower sales growth for its fiscal second quarter, but still managed to beat analysts’ estimates. For the quarter, revenue was up 4.2% to 21.4 billion euros, while they grew by 2.6% on an organic basis. That growth marked a slowdown from the 3.2% increase it recorded in the first quarter, but still managed to top expectations. 
Sales in its home market rose by 3.3% to 10.2 billion euros, helped by growth across all its formats. Like-for-like sales, however, grew by just 0.5%, compared to the 2.1% rise in the first quarter. Carrefour attributed the slowdown to tough comparables and increased price pressure from rivals.
Sales in Latin America jumped up 15% on an organic basis, helped by a 7.1% rise in Brazil, although its Asian operations registered a disappointing 8.6% decline, as the Chinese unit continued to struggle (-12.3%).
CFO Pierre-Jean Sivignon said the results marked a “very good start to the year”, adding that Carrefour considered the market consensus for full-year operating profit of 2.51 billion - 2.53 billion euros to be “reasonable”.
Sivignon also said the group has no plans to list its Brazilian operations on the stock exchange currently, noting that the market conditions were not ideal. He added: “An IPO will depend on market conditions. We do not need an IPO to fund our growth in Brazil”. (www.kamcity.com)
