Decent start for Carrefour

French supermarket group Carrefour had a decent first quarter, but its results differ tremendously per region. The Belgian division outperformed the group’s overall performance.

Stable in France, growth in Europe

Carrefour Group’s turnover in 2016’s first quarter fell by 4.3 % to 20.05 billion euro, a drop caused by exchange rate fluctuations and lower gasoline prices. The like-for-like turnover (excluding gasoline and calendar effects) grew 3.1 %, or even 3.8 % ignoring exchange rate changes.

The retailer remained stable in France, even though the hypermarkets’ turnover dropped slightly. Carrefour is transforming the more than 600 Dia stores into Carrefour stores in France, after it acquired those in a deal. All other European countries presented growth in the first quarter: like-for-like turnover grew in Spain (+ 3.4 %) and in Italy (+ 4.5 %), while Poland and Romania also did well. Carrefour Belgium managed a 1.06 billion euro turnover, up 1.2 % (with a 1 % like-for-like turnover growth).

Exchange rates dampened the company’s Latin American results, although its like-for-like turnover went up 13.5 %. Asian like-for-like turnover dropped 4.9 % as China remains a difficult market, although Carrefour sees light at the end of the tunnel.