Casino confidently looks forward to 2014

France on the recovery

The French group received good grades for its 2013 performance, as the group turnover grew 15.9 % to 48.65 billion euro, while its operational profit grew 18.1 % to 2.36 billion euro. In its home market France, Casino managed a 5.7 % turnover increase to 19.49 billion euro, mainly thanks to Monoprix’ consolidation.

There was however a 3.9 % drop on a like-for-like basis, as the different formulas had widely varying performances in the previous year. Géant hypermarkets (- 6.3 %), Casino supermarkets (- 4.4 %) and convenience stores CasinoShop and Vival (- 2.3 %) all had to accept losses, while e-tailers Cdiscount/Monshowroom (+ 16.1 %), LeaderPrice (+ 5.3%) and Monoprix (+ 1.4 %) all charged ahead with positive numbers.

When CEO Naouri presented the full-year results, he pointed out the remarkable turnaround in the 126 Géant hypermarkets, which managed to grow 0.8 % in the fourth quarter – compared to a – 7 % in the fourth quarter of 2012. “This is the clearest example that our price policy of lower prices is starting to work”, Naouri concluded. “We welcomed an additional 1.9 % of customers, who bought 8.1 % more than in the same quarter the year before.”

Its 444 supermarkets had a similar evolution, which prompted the CEO to announce that this year the Casino group will get organic growth once again in France.

60 % of turnover comes from abroad

Casino’s international performance grew to 60 % of the group’s total turnover, some 29.15 billion euro: not only because of expansion, but also because of a strong organic growth of 11.9 %.

Brazil was the frontrunner in Latin America, a region that grew 13.1 %, with Colombia and Uruguay also contributing quite a bit (+ 3.6 %). Vietnam is number one in Asia with a 13.5 % growth, while Thailand grew 6.7 %, which resulted in a 7.5 % increase for the entire Asian region. Both Asian countries will continue to feature heavily in Casino’s plans, as new stores will keep popping up in Vietnam and Thailand.