Carrefour continues to grow

Carrefour published its financial results for the first 6 months of its fiscal year this morning and they were better than expected. Despite unfavourable circumstances, the group is on track to reach its full-year forecast.

Lousy weather

Analysts had not expected a 36.289 billion euro net turnover. Even though it is a 3.8 % drop, it would have been a 2.2 % increase if exchange rate fluctuations are ignored and a 2.9 % organic growth (excluding gas and calendar effects).

Carrefour experienced issues in Europe because of the lousy weather. Carrefour France had to deal with a slight turnover drop, although its operational margin (1.8 %) remained intact. Other European countries performed better, with a 2.2 % like-for-like growth.

6-month turnover in Belgium grew minimally, up 0.4 % to 2.132 billion euro. However, organic growth dropped ever so slightly (- 0.1 %), as its second quarter proved troublesome in Belgium (- 0.5 %). Turnover in its growth markets, particularly Latin America and Taiwan, grew a lot.

Modernization

The company’s decent results are a boost for CEO Georges Plassat’s ambitious modernization plan. Carrefour points to its multiformat and omnichannel strategy investments for the excellent results: not only is the chain opening small and large stores, it is also continuously developing every country’s digital channel.

For the first time since its acquisition, Rue du Commerce is present in Carrefour France’s results. The transformation of the DIA stores is still on track and should be finalized by the end of the year.