PARIS: International supermarket group Carrefour achieved a sharp profit increase in the first half of the year, it reported but the company’s shares fell sharply.
Net profit rose 16.7 percent to €274m ($367m) and the current operating profit rose by 7.9 percent to €833m. This was achieved on a 1.7-percent fall in sales to €40.3bn.
Carrefour said that activity had been particularly encouraging in France despite deflationary pressures and price-cutting in the supermarket sector. Activity in Belgium and Spain had risen, but did less well in Italy.
Business in Latin America was undermined by unfavourable exchange rates, and in Asia operating profit had fallen by 15.2 percent to €83m mainly because of “frugal consumption” in China.
The price of shares in the group was down 4.81 percent to 25.82 euros in mid-day trading. The overall French market was down by 0.56 percent.
Argentina and Brazil are the two countries in Latin America where the group has outlets but these activities represented only 3 percent of group sales and 2 percent of operating profit, CEO Georges Plassat said.
AFP
