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12 2014 Registration Document
Presentation of the Group
1
Activities and strategy
Carrefour in other European countries
Carrefour in France
In France, Carrefour is the leading food retailer across all formats. In 2014,
the Group had 5,013 stores under banners in four different formats:
237 Carrefour hypermarkets, 960 supermarkets, 3,673 convenience
stores operating under the City, Contact, Montagne, Express, 8 à Huit
and Proxi banners, and 143 cash & carry stores operating under the
Promocash banner. The Group has a total of 812 consolidated stores
- 213 hypermarkets, 514 supermarkets, 79 convenience stores and
6 cash & carry stores.
In 2014, Carrefour in France either opened or acquired 341 stores
under Group banners - including 3 hypermarkets, 12 supermarkets,
321 convenience stores and 5 cash & carry stores, representing a total
of some 132,000 sq.m. of gross sales area.
In 2014, France saw renewed growth, with organic sales excluding petrol
climbing +1.2% across all formats. Hypermarkets saw a +0.1% growth
in organic sales excluding petrol (-0.1% in like-for-like), supermarkets
grew by 1.2% (+1.6% in like-for-like), and the other formats, mainly
convenience stores, by +6.6% (+6.1% in like-for-like). Attractiveness
improved across all formats, with steady improvment in terms of price
perception, higher numbers of cash transactions, and an increase in
overall customer satisfaction in both hypermarkets and supermarkets.
The positive impact of remodeling projects continued, with a total of
87 hypermarkets and approximately 200 supermarkets renovated since
2013 (38 hypermarkets and approximately 100 supermarkets in 2014).
France continued its projects aimed at overhauling the supply chain and
IT rationalization, as well as its action plans launched in 2012.
Recurring operating income, which totalled €1.3 billion, rose by +6.1%
- an increase of 20 basis points in operating margin, to 3.6% of sales.
Over two years in France, the recurring operating income increased by
close to 38%, equivalent to a growth of 100 basis points as a percentage
of sales in comparison to 2012. The increase was due to:
■
an improved gross margin as a result of an improved balance between
everyday low prices promotions, and loyalty programmes;
■
good control of operating costs.
In France, operational investments totalled €1.04 billion (including
€51 million related to global functions). This figure is up 0.7% over
2013, due largely to a “catch-up” in remodelling and maintenance
investments. These accounted for 2.9% of sales, roughly the same
percentage as in 2013.
In the rest of Europe, Carrefour operates 4,362 stores under banners as of
the end of 2014. These include 489 hypermarkets, 1,819 supermarkets,
2,035 convenience stores and 19 cash & carry stores. Carrefour operates
in 5 consolidated countries and the network includes 1,267 stores
(392 hypermarkets, 643 supermarkets, 213 convenience stores and
19 cash & carry stores).
Over the year, Carrefour opened or acquired 663 stores under banners
in Europe – an additional 298,000 sq.m of gross sales area including
9 hypermarkets, 213 supermarkets and 441 convenience stores.
Net sales in Europe totalled €19.2 billion in 2014, a drop of 0.2%
at current exchange rates. Organic growth in sales showed a clear
improvement in the first half of the year, particularly in Spain, where the
recovery continued with like-for-like growth for the first time since 2008.
Over the year, the gross margin improved with constant attention to
price positioning. Growth in operating costs was contained. Recurring
operating income totalled €425 million.
Changes in exchange rates (mainly the depreciation of the Brazilian
reais and the Argentinian peso) had a 3.1% unfavourable effect on
consolidated sales, reflected in a 0.2% decrease in sales in 2014 at
current exchange rates.
Recurring operating income rose by 10.6% at constant exchange rates
(by 6.7% at current exchange rates) to €2.39 billion. This increase is due
to a sharp rise in recurring operating income in Latin America (+23.2%
at constant exchange rates) and in Europe outside of France (+9.6%).
In total, recurring operating income equalled 3.2% of sales, an increase
of 20 basis points over 2013.
The Group continued to step up its investments in 2014, as planned,
which increased by 11.7% over 2013, totalling €2.4 billion for the year.