(Reuters) – The French distributor Casino, in great difficulty, reported on Wednesday a net loss of 5.66 billion euros for 2023, a sharp deterioration compared to that of 316 million euros recorded in 2022, linked to disposals and its financial restructuring.
Casino shares, facing strong dilution after the restructuring, fell 12.47% to 0.62 euros at 08:50 GMT.
The Paris Commercial Court on Monday gave the green light to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s plan to bail out the French distributor as part of an accelerated safeguard procedure, an operation which will end thirty years of reign of Jean-Charles Naouri on the society.
The seventh French supermarket group in terms of market share had an extremely difficult 2023, during which it found itself on the verge of default after years of debt-financed acquisitions and recent loss of market share to its rivals.
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Casino specified in a press release that taking into account the process of selling the group’s super and hypermarkets to Auchan Retail and Groupement Les Mousquetaires, parent company of Intermarché, the Ebitda projections for France for the period 2023-2028 published in November 2023 were no longer valid.
The sale agreements concluded with its French rivals leave Casino with the high-end Monoprix brand and its Franprix stores in city centers.
The group is not publishing new 2024 prospects, he explains, due to the upcoming change of control, which will see the arrival of a new management team led by Daniel Kretinsky.
The net financial debt of the Saint-Etienne group stands at 6.2 billion euros as of December 31, 2023, compared to 4.5 billion a year ago, he added.
(Writing by Diana Mandiá, with Dominique Vidalon, editing by Kate Entringer)
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