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PARIS, Feb 28 (Reuters) - French retailer Casino said group sales slowed in the fourth quarter of 2022, as a robust performance in Latin America was offset by weakness in France, where sales at its Geant hypermarkets and at its supermarkets fell amid competitive pressure.Casino said it planned to spend more on promotions to help cash-strapped shoppers in the first quarter of 2023.The performance of its core French business will be closely watched as Casino and Teract earlier this month announced they were in preliminary discussions to combine their retail activities in France within a single entity controlled by Casino.The company, which has been facing concerns over high debt and low cash flow, on March 10 is scheduled to report its earnings for the full year, one in which it had said it aimed for a good level of profit and improved cash flow generation.Casino, which also controls Brazil's Grupo Pao de Acucar , said group sales for the fourth quarter reached 9.155 billion euros ($9.7 billion), up 4.4% on a same store basis but slower than the 5.4% growth it posted in the third quarter.In France, sales rose just 0.1% on a same store basis after rising 3.9% in the third quarter.Sales at its French hypermarkets fell 6.2% on a same store basis and by 4% at its French supermarkets while sales at convenience stores rose 4.5%.Casino is banking on an expansion of convenience stores located in city centres and its focus on e-commerce, notably home delivery through partnerships with Ocado or Amazon , to boost sales.Casino said it opened 352 new stores in convenience formats during the quarter and 879 new stores over the year, exceeding its initial target of 800 openings.($1 = 0.9447 euros) (Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta) |