Carrefour Romania doubles operating income

In the first six months of the year, the company reported a VAT-free turnover of 427.1 million euros on the Romanian market, up 40.3% against the same time in 2007.

 Carrefour Romania, the largest player
on the hypermarket segment, in terms of turnover, doubled its
operating income in the first half of the year compared with the same
time in 2007, to 14.8 million euros, i.e. 3.4% of the VAT-free
turnover according to the financial report of Hyparlo, a division of
the Carrefour group, which operates Carrefour Romania. The expansion
of the hypermarket network also enabled the company to improve its
trade margin this year. "The trade margin went up from 18.1% in
2007 to 23.4% in the first half of 2008, especially following new
store openings," according to the Hyparlo report.

The sales increase comes amid a
doubling in the number of hypermarkets operational in the stated
period, and amid the integration into the group of the Artima
supermarket network, since February this year.