The French retail Goliath, which has almost 15,000 stores worldwide, hailed changes to its hypermarket model and a strengthened brand as having contributed to a 7 per cent rise in group sales last year, bringing the total to e92.27 billion (£68.93 billion). On a like-for-like basis, sales rose 1.8 per cent. Fourth quarter turnover rose 10 per cent.
Carrefour made progress in its domestic market, where its supermarkets delivered their strongest growth since 2000 in the fourth quarter and some Champion stores have been converted to the Carrefour banner as part of Carrefour’s multi-format, single-brand strategy.
Among Carrefour’s other European markets, Spain, Poland and Romania led like-for-like growth. The retailer’s growth markets in Asia and Latin America, such as Argentina and China, performed “very well”.
The retailer said: “Making our brand work harder, as well as opening more square meterage in our growth markets, will help us grow sales by 6 to 8 per cent in 2008, excluding acquisitions. We expect operating profits to grow faster than sales.”
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