Store openings drive Carrefour sales
Currency fluctuations hit bottom line
October 11 2002
Carrefour has reported a 5.6 per cent increase in group sales for the third quarter of 2002 based on constant exchange rates.
The French supermarket giant saw good like-for-like increases in its biggest territories and accelerated its store opening programme While the implications of volatile exchange rates in South America in particular meant a sales decline of 1.5 per cent, the group said it had met its target of a sales increase of around 5 per cent for the year on constant rates.
The drive for international growth saw Carrefour open 16 hypermarkets, in France, Greece, Poland, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Portugal, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, China, Korea, and Thailand. Nine supermarkets and 50 discount stores were also opened during the quarter.
In France, hypermarket sales increased by 3.3 per cent in the quarter, with sales also strong in Belgium and Italy. A rebranding exercise to bring all Swiss supermarkets under the Carrefour brand was completed.
In South America, like-for-like sales in Brazil are growing at 10 per cent a year, while in Argentina they are up 12.9 per cent despite the difficult economy.
