the group’s parent company, Rallye, fined 25 million euros for market manipulation

The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) has imposed a fine of 25 million euros on Rallye, parent company of the distributor in difficulty Casino, “for having broadcast [à 11 reprises et dans 14 supports de communication en 2018 et 2019] false or misleading information likely to set the price of the Rallye share at an abnormal or artificial level »communicated the Authority on Monday September 11.

Clearly, the Sanctions Committee considered that these “false or misleading information (…) gave investors a more favorable image of its liquidity situation than it actually was, in particular by qualifying, without nuance, this situation as “solid” or “very solid””. The Autorité considers that Casino’s cash was more closely linked to the evolution of the distributor’s share price than its communication suggested. However, the share price “was highly volatile and under persistent downward pressure”she explained.

This erroneous information was “likely to have an impact on the market’s perception of its financial situation”. And the stock market price of Casino has, according to the AMF, changed “on a higher level than it would have been in the presence of accurate and non-misleading information”.

The AMF Enforcement Committee found that “Rallye knew or should have known that this information was false or misleading” and that these actions were “attributable” to Franck Hattab, the managing director and head of financial communication for Rallye at the material time, who was fined 1 million euros, in this same case of market manipulation.