Carrefour achieved a turnover of 22.2 billion euros in the first quarter of 2024 (+0.4%) and its sales fell in France, where the group, which confirms its financial objectives, is banking on declines in prices financed by an accentuated savings plan.
(AFP / PASCAL GUYOT)
The only distributor of the CAC 40 reported on Wednesday in a press release “generally stable sales in France and the rest of Europe” to a number of comparable stores, which according to it reflects “the slowdown in inflation and price investments “consisting of lowering margins to be more competitive in price. But “volumes remain under pressure,” he observes.
During a telephone press briefing on Wednesday, executive director of finance and management Matthieu Malige estimated that the group had achieved a “solid commercial performance”, demonstrating the “resilience of the model”, in a double context of “a sharp slowdown in inflation in Europe” and consumption “still under pressure”.
In France, sales fell by 2.1%, penalized by hypermarkets where sales of non-food products, which fell further, weighed more heavily on turnover.
To respond to this, Carrefour indicates that it is carrying out “national price reductions on more than 700 products during the quarter” – a figure to be compared with the number of references in stores: 3,000 to 5,000 in a supermarket and between 20,000 and 35,000 in hypermarkets.
“To strengthen our competitiveness while preserving our economic model, we are amplifying our cost reduction dynamic and will accelerate the movement of price reductions throughout 2024 in France and the rest of Europe,” he said. indicated the CEO of the group Alexandre Bompard, quoted in the press release.
The “cost savings” objective has been raised, from 1 to 1.2 billion euros over 2024.
The distributor also specifies that it has experienced an “inflection in Brazil”, a key country, with sales up 6.2%. Across a comparable number of stores, the distributor present under the Atacadao or Sam’s Club brands in particular indicates having returned “to growth after three quarters of decline” and experiencing a “resumption of volumes in a context of a return to slightly positive food inflation”.
The group, which will hold its general meeting on May 24, indicates that it is approaching “the rest of the year with confidence” and confirms its financial objectives for 2024, in particular the growth of Ebitda and current operating profit, profitability indicators.