French retailer Carrefour has revealed that net income during the first half of 2009 dropped considerably to a loss of €58m, compared with a profit of €744m during the same period last year.
Lower income was a result of non-recurring charges of €511m, according to Carrefour, including a €400m impairment charge linked to Finiper in Italy.
Group sales through the half fell 1.6 per cent to €41.3bn from €41.9bn in 2008, although they actually increased by 1.9 per cent at constant exchange rates excluding petrol and adjusted for calendar impact.
Domestically, French sales fell 0.6 per cent to €17.7bn from €18.3bn last year, with hypermarket sales excluding petrol down 1.9 per cent.
Sales in Europe were down 2.5 per cent at constant exchange rates, and 5.4 per cent at actual exchange rates, to €14.8m from €15.7m in 2008. Italy and Belgium recorded small improvements on the second quarter, while Spanish operations continued to struggle.
In Latin America, activities continued to post strong growth with sales up 18.3 per cent at constant exchange rates to €5.3bn, driven notably by a strong performance in Brazil.
Asian sales also increased during the first half, up 14.8 per cent at actual exchange rates to €3.4bn, with China recording growth of 6.4 per cent at constant exchange rates.
'In a challenging environment, Carrefour posted resilient first-half sales and market share gains, notably in France, highlighting the fact the successful acceleration of our brand convergence programme and the relevance of our multi-format model,' said group CEO Lars Olofsson. 'Our activity contribution reflects our decision to boost our commercial offer in order to gain market share.
'We recorded encouraging progress in the first half, with improved price image in France, the successful launch of Carrefour Discount, promising tests of our new convenience and hard-discount concepts, first signs of change in Italy and Belgium and cost reductions,' Mr Olofsson added. 'With a focused and determined management and mobilised teams, we are on track to deliver our 2009 objectives, execute our transformation plan and make Carrefour the preferred retailer.'
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