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PARIS, June 7 (Reuters) - French supermarket group Carrefour
and its British peer Tesco said on Monday
they would not extend a purchasing alliance between the two
companies.
They said in a joint statement that "they have decided not
to extend their purchasing alliance beyond the three-year
operational framework agreed in 2018."
The alliance formally ends on Dec. 31, they said, adding
that the two would now focus on opportunities independently.
The purchasing agreement https://www.reuters.com/article/cbusiness-us-carrefour-tesco-suppliers-a-idCAKBN1JT2IU-OCABS
had aimed to allow Carrefour and Tesco to cut prices and expand
ranges of their own-label products.
Carrefour has been keen to show it can grow by itself, after
its potential takeover from Canadian rival Couche-Tard
unravelled this year following French government opposition.
Carrefour agreed this year to buy Brazil's third-biggest
food retailer Grupo BIG, and the company also posted strong
first quarter results in April.
By contrast, Tesco reported in April a 20% drop in full-year
pretax profit as the cost of adapting the business for the
pandemic wiped out the benefit of "exceptionally strong" grocery
sales.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Edmund Blair)
