The French retail giant reported its slowest fourth-quarter sales growth since 2003 as consumer spending slowed in its international markets.
Sales rose 0.7 per cent to 25.74bn (£23.31bn), just short of the 26bn (£23.55bn) estimated by analysts. Like-for-likes dropped 2.4 per cent in France and fell 3.5 per cent in the rest of Europe.
In contrast, rivals Casino, Delhaize and Ahold reported solid fourth-quarter sales.
French grocer Casino said its fourth-quarter sales climbed 9.3 per cent to 7.7bn (£6.97bn), in line with expectations. Sales growth in France was flat, but global sales soared 29.4 per cent.
Bernstein analyst Christopher Hogbin said Casino’s French business, with its format mix and high penetration of own-label, was well placed in the challenging environment.
Belgian retailer Delhaize and Dutch giant Ahold reported robust fourth quarters too. Sales at Delhaize jumped 16 per cent to 5.42bn (£4.91bn) and Ahold reported a 13 per cent rise to 6.6bn (£5.98bn).
Dresdner Kleinwort analyst James Grzinic said neither were affected by the tightening US consumer environment, where they generate a large chunk of sales. Their fourth-quarter performance was also bolstered by the recovery of the dollar.
Sales at Ahold’s Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover in the US increased 2.8 per cent and comparable store sales at Delhaize’s Food Lion, Hannaford and Sweetbay chains rose 2.9 per cent.
Carrefour chief financial officer Eric Reiss said sales, which had been volatile over the quarter, have not shown signs of improvement in the first two weeks of January.
The grocer cited low consumer confidence in some of its biggest markets such as Spain, where shoppers are concerned about widespread job cuts.
ING analyst John Roeg said several of Carrefour’s markets had experienced weaker than expected growth. However, he added that the grocer has huge longer-term potential and is awaiting a fresh strategy from new chief executive Lars Olofsson.
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