French retail giant Carrefour‘s 2015 performance was just like analysts had forecast. Turnover and operational profit grew, but the net profit dropped a lot because of one-time costs.
More than 2.5 billion planned for investments
A 2.45 billion euro recurrent operational profit (up nearly 2.5 % and even 7 % if exchange rates had remained level) is exactly what its analysts had predicted for Carrefour, said financial news agency Bloomberg. Net profit, including minority stakes, dropped 18 % to 1.1 billion euro because of higher one-time costs.
The company already announced its turnover, which was up 3.3 % to 86.3 billion euro, in January. The fallout of the Paris attacks and the warm weather in the final quarter of 2015 impacted its French performance, but every format still managed growth there. Growth even sped up all across Europe, particularly in Spain and Italy. In Belgium, stores that were opened more than 1 year ago saw their turnover grow 1 %. Carrefour’s second largest market, Brazil, also “performed excellently in a more difficult context”.
The French retail giant announced it will invest 2.5 to 2.6 billion euro in 2016, partly to open new stores in a whole range of formats. It will however “wait for the right moment” to launch an IPO for its real estate division Carmilla.
