Carrefour surprises with positive French results

Exchange rates limits turnover

The
first half of 2013 gave Carrefour a global turnover of 36.464 billion
euro, 0.8 % lower than the same period last year.
Less favourable exchange rates were the main cause of the slight
setback, because if they had remained stable, Carrefour would have
pushed forward 1.4 %. 

France,
responsible for 40 % of Carrefour’s turnover, ‘only’ fell back 0.3 % as
CEO Georges Plassat managed to get the French activities back on track,
despite only becoming CEO in May 2012. 

Modernizing
the ageing infrastructure, simplifying the array of products andcreating competitive pricing improved Carrefour’s impression with
consumers. He also cut costs, resulting in a 75 % increase of the
current company profits for the French market, from 275 million euro to 482 million euro.

Plummeting turnover in southern Europe

The
results got a very positive reaction from analysts keeping a close eye
on the share, who are hoping that the chain can reproduce those results
in southern Europe, a region where the economic crisis isn’t sparing
Carrefour.

For now Carrefour had to take a
4.5 % hit in the rest of Europe, with Spain and Italy
weighing heavy on the numbers. The turnover dropped to 9.176 billion
euro, while current company profits plummeted
76.4 % to 36 million euro.

Excellent performance in upcoming markets

Carrefour
performed well commercially in the upcoming markets, but the exchange
rates once again set back the numbers. The turnover in Latin America
grew 1.1 %, to 6.953 billion euro, a number which
would have shown a 13.3 % increase with stable exchange rates. The Asian turnover grew 2.7 % to 3.388 billion euro.

The
first half of 2013 resulted in a net profit of 902 million euro, a huge
increase compared to last year when only three million euro could be
chalked up as profit. The recurrent company profit went up 4.9 %,
reaching 766 million euro. In the latter half of
2013, Plassat is continuing his local approach for store management and
reigning in the costs.

By
the end of June 2013, Carrefour had 10,102 stores, 3,418 of which were
in France, its home territory.