FILE PHOTO: A customer empties his trolley in front of a Carrefour Hypermarket store in Saint-Herblain near Nantes, France January 15, 2021. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
October 20, 2021
PARIS (Reuters) – Carrefour said revenue growth slowed in the third quarter, reflecting weaker sales in the core French market where a mandatory COVID-19 health pass hit business at its large out-of-town hypermarkets.
Europe’s largest retailer, which earlier this month ended talks over a possible tie-up with unlisted rival Auchan, kept its guidance for full year 2021 net free cash flow “comfortably” above 1 billion euros.
Carrefour said sales reached 20.468 billion euros ($23.83 billion) in the third quarter, a like-for-like rise of 0.8% but a slowdown from 3.6% growth in the second quarter.
In France, where chairman and CEO Alexandre Bompard has made reviving flagging sales at hypermarket stores a priority, sales eased 0.3% following a 4.% rise in the second-quarter.
French hypermarket sales alone fell 2.8% in the quarter after rising 4.3% in the second quarter.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by GV De Clercq)
