⁍ French retailer Casino said sales growth slowed in the third quarter.

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⁍ weaker performance in France held back robust growth in Brazil.

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⁍ Casino preparing for new national lockdown to curb COVID-19.

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– The H1N1 virus that hit France in July didn’t exactly hurt the country’s food retailers, with sales up 6.2% year-over-year in the third quarter. But sales growth slowed in the third quarter, as a weaker performance in France held back robust growth in Brazil, the group’s second-largest market, reports Reuters. In France, lower tourist numbers in Paris and the southeast of the country in July due to the pandemic weighed on the performance of Monoprix and Franprix and also on the Geant hypermarkets. Sales momentum started to improve in August, and there was a clear upturn in sales at Monoprix in October and at Franprix in recent weeks, Finance Chief David Lubek told analysts. Casino was now preparing for a new national lockdown to curb COVID-19 that was due to start at midnight in France. “It is likely that the new shift from eating out to eating in will reinforce store sales, particularly in proximity as well as in e-commerce. We know from our experience in Q1 and Q2 that the impact may be quite significant,” Lubek said. “Our teams are ready to face the challenge with supply chains prepared for a possible surge in volumes.”