Belgium is Carrefour’s weak point
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Crossroads had a solid first half and is gaining market share in its main markets. Belgium, on the other hand, is the ugly duckling: sales are falling there and the supermarket group is losing its investments.
Decline in turnover in Belgium
Carrefour’s sales increased by 17.2% in the second quarter, an increase of 7.3% on a like-for-like basis. The first half as a whole also saw double-digit growth of 13.2%, or 5.4% on a like-for-like basis. The supermarket group says it is gaining market share in “all major countries”.
Belgium is clearly not one of them, as it casts a shadow over its otherwise strong quarterly results. Sales fell 4.8% in the second quarter, after already falling 7% in the first quarter. Sales in the second quarter amounted to 1.1 billion euros.
In Belgium, Carrefour has had to deal with strikes at a logistics partner’s fresh produce warehouse in Nivelles in recent months, but it has also been facing stiff competition from supermarkets for some time. Highlight: the fact that the ROI (return on investment) in Europe also fell by 63 million euros to 163 million euros is due to the Belgian activities. Elsewhere, performance has been stable, according to Carrefour itself.
New strategic plan
At group level, current operating income increased by 10% in the first half to reach 814 million euros, with a stable margin of 2.1%. However, if we exclude the effects of change, only 1.6% of this growth remains. Carrefour claims to have been able to save more costs than expected and now wants to save a billion over the whole year. E-commerce is also accelerating: in the second quarter, online volumes increased by 22%, compared to 10% in the first quarter.
In November, CEO Alexandre Bompard will unveil a new strategic plan. He will announce the objectives for the next four years, until 2026.
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Carrefour had a solid first half and gained market share in its main markets. Belgium, on the other hand, is the ugly duckling: sales are falling there and the supermarket group is losing its investments.