(AOF) – Fnac Darty published a turnover of 1.793 billion euros, up 0.7%. It fell by 0.8% like-for-like. “The good performance of in-store sales during the period offset the decline in digital activity which represents 21% of the group’s total sales,” specifies the distributor. Omnichannel represents 51% of total online sales for the first three months of the year.
Driven mainly by the growing positive impact of services linked to Darty Max, the group’s gross margin rate increased by 10 basis points compared to the 1st quarter of 2023. Restated for the dilutive impact of the franchise, it is in increase of 30 basis points.
As announced last February, Fnac Darty confirms that growth should resume in 2024 supported by the decline in inflation and the fall in the savings rate.
The distributor reiterated its objective of achieving a current operating profit for 2024 at least equal to that of 2023 and a cumulative free operating cash flow of around 500 million euros over the period 2021-2024, i.e. a level of 180 million euros in 2024.
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Concerns remain
According to the Federation of Specialized Trade, Procos, in October 2022, activity fell by 1.5% year-on-year. However, the activity of beauty and health (+ 5.2%) and specialized food (+ 3.5%) are dynamic compared to October 2021. Attendance at points of sale was very impacted by the problems fuel and unfavorable weather. Compared to October 2019, a pre-covid year, the drop in attendance is very sharp (-20.9% in October). Shopping centers and the outskirts are more impacted than city centers with a gap of four to five points.
There are several reasons for concern for the future. The players are experiencing a very significant jaws effect given the increase in their operating costs while the evolution of demand is very uncertain. Very few brands can pass on the increase in their costs in sales prices. The federation therefore asks, among other things, to limit the indexation of the Commercial Rent Index to + 3.5% for the rents of all companies in 2023. It also invokes an absolute emergency: capping the price of energy for 2023 and retroact on contracts already signed to prevent the rate of failures from accelerating.