© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Carrefour hypermarket store in France
By Dominique Vidalon
PARIS (Reuters) – Europe’s largest food retailer, Carrefour (PA :).
Carrefour, which last month agreed to buy Brazil’s third-largest food retailer Grupo BIG for around $ 1.3 billion, also maintains its financial and operational targets under its ‘Carrefour 2022’ strategic plan.
“Our belief in the success of our transformation plan and our ability to generate high cash flows is strengthened,” said Chairman and CEO Alexandre Bompard in a statement.
“In line with our capital allocation policy, we are seizing the opportunity brought by current market conditions to announce share repurchases.”
The acquisition will be the first time Carrefour has implemented in more than a decade.
Sales for the first quarter reached 18.56 billion euros, marking a similar growth of 4.2% and reflecting strong food sales in the main markets of Brazil, France and Spain.
In France alone, sales growth reached 3.5% in the first quarter, with Carrefour outperforming each of its channels: hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores and Drive.
That performance reflects the success of an approach that puts customer satisfaction and in-store performance at the heart of all commercial initiatives, the team said.
By early April, with new door lock measures being introduced in France, although less stringent than previous locks, growth remained solid, even in hypermarkets.
Carrefour and food retailers around the world have benefited from the demand created when locking the doors to COVID-19 forcing consumers to stay at home.
Carrefour is on a five-year plan launched in January 2018 to cut costs and increase investment in e-commerce.
This plan aims to increase profits and revenue, while fighting competition from Amazon (NASDAQ :).
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