Carrefour announces new reorganisation of French hypermarkets

The separate entities will start to operate on 20 February and are
inspired by Prioux’s remarks that “a 18,000 m² hypermarket and a 5,000m²
one require a different kind of management: the supply is different, as
are the customer’s expectations.” Prioux, who was the director of
Carrefour France’s hypermarket division until 2003, has issued a plan to
boost Carrefour’s suffering division. Their market share has decreased
for four consecutive years, slipping to only 12% in January.

New trio to head new structure

The division means current director of hypermarkets Guillaume Vicaire
will be succeeded by three directors; according to the French
specialised website LSA Frédéric Duranton (director of the South-Eastern
division), Philippe Lartigue (director of transformation plans) and
Patrice Lespagnol (former CEO of the Greek and Romanian divisions).

Carrefour has not yet announced which director will be heading which
entity, nor has it decided on the future of current head of French
hypermarkets Vicaire. Analysts believe he will remain at Carrefour to
assume an international role.

New CEO can earn up to € 3.75 million …

Meanwhile, controversy has arisen over the salary of Carrefour’s new
CEO, Georges Plassat. Compared to his predecessor Olofsson, Plassat will
receive a 11% raise to 1.5 million euro per year. If he meets certain
business targets, his salary can be multiplied by a coefficient of
maximum 2.5 – resulting in a maximum annual salary of 3.75 million euro.

On top of that, Plassat will receive 400,000 share options and, if he is
forced to quit before 2 April 2015, he will receive one extra annual
salary – including the variable part. As most directors do not survive
for too long at Carrefour, it is quite possible Plassat will earn this
impressive bonus.

… and current CEO receives triple farewell gift

Olofsson too receives a nice farewell gift from its current employer:
on top of the estimated (and unconfirmed) half a million euro he will
receive as part of his pension plan, he is paid 1.5 million euro if he
does not join any of Carrefour’s competitors in the following year.

This new agreement is rather surprising, as his current contract did not
contain such a clause and Olofsson was not entitled to a ‘Golden
handshake’, as he initiated the termination of his contract himself.

Moreover, Carrefour will allow Olofsson to cash the 395,000 share
options he earned during his time at the top of the French retailer,
even though the Swede only served three of the four years of his
contract. The trade unions at Carrefour, who had to accept severe
reorganisations in the last few years, will have some serious remarks
regarding the farewell and welcome gift…