Carrefour Slides on Reduced Profit

Carrefour SA, Europe's biggest retailer, fell to a 3 1/2-year low in Paris trading after scaling back forecasts for operating profit and sales.

 Operating profit will increase at about
the same pace as sales this year, the Paris-based company said
yesterday after French stock trading ended. Six weeks earlier,
Carrefour had forecast that earnings by that measure would rise more
than revenue.

First-quarter sales of non-food items
such as appliances slid 8.8 percent in its superstores, Carrefour
said in May, more than the 6.8 percent drop for Casino's sales on the
same basis. The index that measures French consumer confidence fell
to the lowest since its 1987 introduction in June as the fastest
inflation in 12 years eroded household purchasing power.