French hypermarket chain Carrefour is considering leaving Greece, as rumours in the French press say. The CM-CIC securities agency expects a profit loss of 90 million euro in Greece for 2011, which is guessed as much as the combined profits for 2007 and 2008. There is no official confirmation however, as Carrefour does not release separate results per country.
CM-CIC maintains its guess could be correct, as it is based on “results published about certain European subsidiaries – like DIA – and statements in meetings about other countries – like Italy or Poland”. Should Carrefour really decide to leave the joint venture with its Greek partner Marinopoulos, this could “considerably change the consolidation methods” of Carrefour. One important problem remains however: in a country so struck by the economic crisis, who is going to take over such an unprofitable chain?
