Carrefour bosses faced an angry annual meeting today (21 June), with shareholders frustrated by three profit warnings in less than a year and critical that the retailer is not acting in the interest of all its investors, Reuters reports.
Trade unions are also exasperated by Carrefour's plan to sell off its Dia discount unit, and promised 500 to 1,000 protesters would attend the meeting, held in Paris, France.
By 0800 GMT a crowd of about 100 Carrefouremployees from France, Belgium and Spainhad already gathered as investors started arriving for the AGM.
'We are here to protest against the break-up of Carrefour and to say no to the sale of Dia,' said Viviane Dicharry, a cashier at the Carrefour hypermarket of Anglet in the Basque country.
Many investors argue Carrefour is too influenced by its key shareholder Blue Capital, which combines luxury billionaire Bernard Arnault and US property specialist Colony Capital.
Blue Capital, which owns about 13.5 per cent of the equity and 20 per cent of the voting rights at Carrefour, was a driving force behind a plan to spin off all of Dia and the now shelved plan to spin off 25 per cent of its European property assets.
The unions view the Dia spin-off plan as a step toward a future break-up of Carrefour designed to allow Blue Capital to recoup its losses.
Chief executive Lars Olofsson will be under pressure to reassure investors he can still deliver on Carrefour's turnaround plan and notably the revamp of its ailing French hypermarkets, analysts said.
Carrefour, Europe's top retailer, said on Friday (June 17) first-half operating income in France would fall 35 per cent, raising fears about its full-year outlook and dragging down its shares to a two-year low.
'Carrefour's employees have lost confidence in the board and in Olofsson,' said Dejan Terglade, a Force Ouvriere union representative. He said unions would urge the board to resign.
Mr Olofsson also badly needs to secure shareholder approval for plans to spin off and list Dia, the world's third largest discount chain, in what would be the latest attempt to highlight the value of Carrefour's assets.
Mr Olofsson may also face questions at today's meeting about a possible merger of Carrefour's Brazil unit and local rival Pao de Acucar.
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