French retailer denies talks
French department store giant Carrefour has denied it is in talks with Wal-Mart. The statement, made to Reuters, follows a report in the Mail on Sunday that high-level discussions had taken place between Wal-Mart president Lee Scott and Carrefour chairman Luc Vandevelde (pictured) last month.
Despite the denial, Carrefour shares gained 2.1 per cent in the opening hours of trading on France's benchmark CAC 40 index.
Recent trading at Carrefour, the world's second-largest retailer, has been below expectations. The grocer revealed in June that customer transactions at its 216-strong French hypermarket business climbed 1.4 per cent in the second quarter. Its total French sales increased by 0.2 per cent to Eu9.81 billion (£6.73 billion) for the period, while like-for-like sales fell 0.3 per cent.
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