The French retail group Carrefour achieved solid results in the second quarter. The French retail group gained ground, especially in its home country.
Growing market share
Despite a high basis for comparison, Carrefour’s second-quarter turnover increased ‘like-for-like’ by 3.6 per cent. In France, thanks to excellent sales in the food segment, the retailer increased its market share by 0.5 percentage points. Non-food sales, however, lost ground. The group’s supermarkets (+7.0 per cent) and the hypermarkets (4.3 per cent) grew strongly.
Convenience stores, a segment that experienced tremendous growth last year as a result of the lockdown, lost some of their sales (-3.0 per cent). Food e-commerce in France grew again by 11 per cent. In this respect, Carrefour also announced to take a minority stake in the French express courier Cajoo.
Substantial decrease in Belgium
In the rest of Europe, Carrefour fared somewhat less well: compared to the same period last year, sales fell by 1.9 per cent in the second quarter. In Belgium, comparable turnover even decreased by 6.7 per cent. There was, however, growth in Poland and Romania.
For the first six months of 2021, Carrefour posted sales (including VAT) of 38.3 billion euros, up 3.9 per cent on a comparable basis. Operating profit (EBIT) rose from 485 million euros to 689 million euros.
