“Colruyt seeks buyer for French supermarkets”

Colruyt Group is reportedly looking to sell its 102 supermarkets in France, which are currently operating at a loss. The Belgian retailer indicated it dit not want to respond to these “rumours”, reported by multiple sources.

“Convinced of value”

French news website L’Informé and news agency Bloomberg both reported rumours about a potential sale of the chain’s French supermarkets. The retailer currently operates 102 supermarkets in France, employing approximately 2,500 people.

In a written statement, Colruyt stated it did not want to respond to what it calls “rumours”, stressing that it “is convinced of the value of our French activities. This includes the retail activities, with the integrated Colruyt Prix Qualité stores, as well as the wholesale activities with Codifrance.” Spokesperson Hanne Poppe added that the latter was only recently expanded with the acquisition of Degrenne Distribution.

German buyer?

Analysts would welcome a possible sale, as Degroof Petercam told L’Echo: “In terms of value, this is not a radical change, but rather a strategic shift that we believe the market will appreciate. Colruyt has never been a great success in France, despite significant investments in operations, especially in recent years.”

This does, however, beg the question who would be interested in Colruyt’s French stores. After all, they are relatively small (at an average size of 1,000 sqm) for the French market, that is still dominated by hypermarkets. LSA reports that one potential buyer might be Lidl.

(This article was updated at 14:53, adding a reaction by Colruyt’s spokeperson.)