4Q17 Trading Update

French retailer Carrefour reported 4Q17 sales including sales tax of €23,328 million, a decline of 0.2% year over year at current exchange rates. At constant exchange rates, the company grew revenues by 2.3% year over year in the quarter. Excluding fuel and calendar effects, comparable sales grew by 1.9% year over year in 4Q17. This compared with comp growth of 0.5% in the previous quarter; the improvement was mainly due to stronger comparable sales growth in France.

FY17 Trading Update

Carrefour posted sales including sales tax of €88,240 million for FY17, up 3.0% year over year at current exchange rates and up 2.7% at constant exchange rates. Comparable sales grew by 1.6% year over year excluding fuel and calendar effects, a slowdown versus 3.0% growth in FY16. The weaker comp reflected a deceleration in food sales growth.

Performance by Geography

The figures below exclude fuel and calendar effects. France: Carrefour’s comparable sales in France grew by 1.5% in 4Q17, an improvement versus 3Q17, when comps declined by 0.9%. The stronger growth was due to more favorable momentum across all formats and the success of year-end campaigns. FY17 comparable sales were up 0.8% in France. Other European countries: Comparable sales in other European countries grew by 0.4% in 4Q17 and by 1.3% in FY17, mainly due to improved performance in Northern Europe. Latin America: Carrefour’s Latin American business saw comp growth of 5.9% in 4Q17. Food-price inflation in Brazil, where comps grew by 1.4%, continued to decrease significantly in the quarter. In FY17, Latin American comps grew by 6.1%, a slowdown versus the 13.5% growth seen in FY16. Food deflation in Brazil and high inflation in Argentina impacted on sales. Asia: Performance was weakest in Asia, where comps fell by 3.0% in 4Q17. China posted a comp decline of 5.4% for the quarter. In FY17, Asian comps improved, declining by 3.7% versus a 5.0% decline in FY16.

Outlook

Carrefour will report complete full-year results on February 28. For FY17, analysts expect the company to register net revenue of €79,176 million, EBIT of €2,029 million and normalized EPS of €1.13. Consensus estimates for FY18 call for net revenue of €80,811 million, EBIT of €2,198 million and normalized EPS of €1.24, according to S&P Capital IQ.