French supermarket giant Carrefour, ranked world number two, said today it had slipped into the red for the first half of the year. Although in difficult times the firm still confirmed its 2009 earnings targets. The company, second only to Wal-Mart of the United States, posted a net loss of ?58 million (Dh305.68m) in the six months to June after taking exceptional charges of ?511m. Operating profit fell 27.6 per cent from a year earlier to ?1.01 billion.
The results reflect both a difficult environment and the company's strategic choices as it positions itself going ahead, said finance director Pierre Bouchut. If the exceptional charges were stripped out, net earnings were down 42.4 per cent to ?415m, Carrefour said. Analyst forecasts had been for a net profit of around ?100m after exceptional charges of ?550m. Carrefour, which has 11 stores in the UAE, said it still expected a 2009 operating profit before exceptional items of ?2.7 - 2.8bn if current trends and sales continued.
It also confirmed its target to secure cost savings of ?4.5bn by 2012, with ?212m achieved in the first half this year. Carrefour said sales had held up well in the six months, with revenue down 1.6 per cent from a year earlier but up 1.9 per cent if fuel, exchange effects and seasonal-adjustments were taken into account. "We are a good way towards achieving our 2009 objectives, towards carrying out our transformation plan," the Carrefour head Lars Olofsson said.
* AFP