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/2023.02.28
/Casino posts slower sales growth as France ops weigh.txt
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) |