(AOF) – Casino has completed its bond buyback offer launched on December 13, 2021, with the early buyback and cancellation of a total of € 60.5 million of bonds maturing in February 2025 and August 2026 .
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Key points
– Food distribution group created in 1898 present in France, Brazil and Colombia;
– Distributor weighing € 31.9 billion organized into 3 branches: France Retail under the Casino, Monoprix, Franprix, Spar and Vival banners for 48% of sales, Latin Retail in Latin America for 46% under the Assaï, GPA and extra banners in Brazil , Exito and Libertad in Colombia and, finally, e-commerce for 6% under the CDiscount brand;
– Business model based on brands with strong identities, on digital transformation, on innovation and partnerships and on a network centered on the most dynamic regions;
– Capital locked in by the Rallye holding (52% of the capital), itself a subsidiary of Euris, owned by Jean-Charles Naouri, Chairman and CEO of the 13-member board of directors;
– Financial situation still tight with shareholders’ equity of € 6.1 billion against a net debt reduced to € 4.6 billion.
Challenges
– Dynamic innovation strategy: data management and monetization within RelevanC, cloud offer with ScaleMax / deployment of the CDiscount offer to 900,000 European merchant sites and partnership with 3 European e-commerce leaders giving access to 230 million customers / deployment of stand-alone stores and dedicated applications depending on the brand / digitization of logistics and delivery platforms with Amazon and Ocado;
– Environmental strategy: capitalizing on the “Green Yellow” photovoltaic expertise with an 809 MWp pipeline and on the range of organic products, in Casino points of sale / aiming to reduce CO2 emissions by 18% in 2025 and by 38 % in 2030 (vs 2015);
– Continued market share gains for Floa Bank, formerly Banque Casino;
– Towards a simplification of Latin American assets, leading to a direct participation in GPA (41%) and Assai (41%);
– After the sale of Leader Price, awaiting disposals of € 1.7 billion to strengthen the balance sheet.
– Result of the Autorité des marchés financiers investigation into the activities of hedge funds, in particular Muddy Waters;
– Expansion of Green Yellow in Eastern Europe and Africa;
– Recurring speculations on a merger with Alibaba, Amazon (operational partner in France) and on the intentions of the Czech Kretinski, already holder of 4% of the capital;
– Objective of an increase in free self-financing;
– Abolition of the dividend.