Carrefour is to create an executive board that, along with group executive

Lars Olofsson, will be charged with developing the group’s strategy, operational goals and oversee execution.

Newly appointed France executive director James McCann, formerly Tesco’s Hungary chief, will be among the new board members.

Separately, Carrefour has reported sales of E96.2bn (£86.5bn) including VAT- up 0.9% at constant exchange rates. Like-for-likes fell 1.8%.

In France, sales slid 2.8% to E41.3bn (£37.1bn). Hypermarket sales fell 2.9%, although private-label product sales jumped 10.3%, primarily driven by the roll-out of its Carrefour Market fascia and the Carrefour Discount range.

Sales at Carrefour’s Spanish arm declined, although sales in Latin America held up well. All of its Asian markets posted like-for-like declines.