French retailer Casino confident of 2022 sales despite profit drop (updated)
25/02/2022 07:26
(Adds details from statement and background)
By Dominique Vidalon
PARIS, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Casino CASP.PA said on Friday it
was confident it would recover sales momentum this year in
France and also improve cash flow generation after reporting a
12% fall in 2021 group operating profit to 1.193 billion euros
($1.34 billion).
The French retailer, which has been selling assets to cut
debt, said the pace of its disposal plan slowed because of the
pandemic-fulled curbs. However, it now aims to complete the
final 1.3-billion-euro chunk of its disposal plan of 4.5 billion
euros by the end of 2023.
Casino, which ended 2021 with 562 million euros in cash and
cash equivalents, said it will not pay a dividend for 2021 in
order to give priority to debt reduction.
The group's profit fall reflected a 14% decline in the core
profit of the French market, where sales fell 5.4% on a
same-store basis, notably due to the impact of the pandemic on
the Paris region and on tourist flows, while sales remained
robust in Brazil, Casino's second-largest market. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS8N2MH01U
Casino, which also controls Brazil's Grupo Pao de Acucar
PCAR4.SA , said total group sales reached 30.549 billion euros,
down 0.8% on a same-store basis.
Last month, Casino had flagged a potential drop in profit at
its French operations, citing a steeper-than-expected decline in
France's food market in the fourth quarter, notably in the Paris
region, where it has a large presence through its high-end
Monoprix stores, a key profit contributor. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2U82A2
($1 = 0.8915 euros)
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon , Editing by Tassilo Hummel and
Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
((dominique.vidalon@thomsonreuters.com; +33149495432; Reuters
Messaging: dominique.vidalon.reuters.com@reuters.net))