Sales slump at PPR as credit card stake sold

French retailer Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR) has released a disappointing set of half-year results.

Profits were worse than expected, and a widely anticipated restructuring plan for the retailer's Gucci division was absent.

The group reported a 7.4 per cent drop in sales to EUR11.3 billion (£7.69 billion).

PPR's net profits were up by 61.5 per cent to EUR191.1 million (£130.1 million), largely as a result of the disposal of a stake in credit card company Finaref.

A new strategy for the Gucci division will be outlined in December.

'The only businesses that beat our forecasts were the Printemps department stores, which are now relatively immaterial in the group, and Rexel, which is for sale,' noted broker Goldman Sachs.