French owner tightens grip on Intermarché Belgium

Laurent Boutbien will become Intermarché Belgium’s new chairman of the board of directors on 1 September. The Frenchman’s main task will be to improve the retailer’s profitability.

Heavy investments

The new chairman succeeds co-chairmen Antoine Florival (who was only appointed in June 2024) and Philippe Guilpain and will work with executive director Arnaud Meyrant, who came over from the Louis Delhaize group on 1 April. French trade magazine LSA, which broke the news, reports Boutbien is a confidant of Thierry Cotillard, Société les Mousquetaires president.

By acquiring Mestdagh, Intermarché doubled its market share in Wallonia from 6 to 12 % and realised 1.9 billion euros in sales last year, up 11 %. However, the acquisition requires heavy investments: the new stores’ average turnover at the time of the acquisition was 5,800 euros per sqm, well below Intermarché’s average of 10,000. As a result, the retailer did suffer a loss of thirty million euros last year. Its goal is to land back in the positive figures for this year.