⁍ French retailer Casino said sales growth slowed in the third quarter.
⁍ A weaker performance in France held back robust growth in Brazil.
⁍ The group has so far sold 2.8 billion euros of assets.
– French retailer Casino said Wednesday that 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. In France, lower tourist numbers due to the pandemic due to the southeast of the country weighed on the performance of the Monoprix and Franprix hypermarkets. Casino, which has been selling assets to reduce its debt, said it expected to lower its gross debt by $1.18 billion to 5.9 billion at the end of 2020. Sales totaled 7.426 billion in the third quarter. On a same-store basis and fuel and calendar effects, group sales excluding fuel and calendar effects rose 6.2% in the period, compared to 10.4% growth in the second quarter. In France, lower tourist numbers in the southeast of the country weighed on the performance of Monoprix and Franprix. The group has so far sold 2.8 billion of assets, including several hundred discount Leader Price stores for 735 million euros to German rival Aldi, and has said it was working on more to reach its 4.5 billion euro target.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/casino-results/update-1-retailer-casino-q3-sales-slow-on-weak-demand-in-france-idUSL1N2HK2L6