Carrefour reports 6.3% sales increase for 2008

Carrefour gross sales grow to EUR97.6 billion at constant exchange rates for 2008. This was below Carrefour’s revised target of 6.5% increase.

 In France, total sales of EUR42.5
billion reflected a growth of 1%. Supermarkets were a main
contributor to growth, providing 3.7% increase in like-for-likes.
Some 4.9% of the increase was attributed to ‘others’, which
primarily includes its neighbourhood stores, while its hypermarkets
experienced negative like-for-like sales of -1.2% over the year. The
hard discount format registered a growth of mere 0.2% over 2008.

The retailer's other markets in Europe
(outside France) accounted for sales of EUR36.1 billion. Italy and
Belgium generated negative like-for-likes of -1.9% and -2.8%
respectively, whereas Spain registered a slight growth of 1.3% in
2008.

In 2008, Latin America saw
like-for-like sales grow by 12.7%, generating EUR12.3 billion.
Argentina was Carrefour’s most successful market, reporting an
increase of 32.3%. The like-for-like sales growth of 1.9% in Asia was
fuelled by Carrefour's largest local market, China (plus 4.4%), but
was hampered by a negative performance of -2.9% in Taiwan. The region
generated sales of EUR6.7 billion.