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* Q3 underlying sales up 1% vs 4.1% decline in Q2
* French underlying sales down 4.3% vs down 8.4% in Q2
* Deal with Gorillas follows ones with Ocado, Amazon
(Adds CFO comments from call, details on Gorillas deal)
By Dominique Vidalon
PARIS, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Retailer Casino said on
Thursday that sales momentum gradually improved in the third
quarter, as easing COVID-19 restrictions helped its performance
in France and sales growth in Brazil, the group's second-largest
market, remained robust.
Casino, which has been boosting its profitability through
purchasing deals and cost cuts, reiterated a target of core
profit (EBITDA) growth for its French retail business in 2021
and unveiled a new partnership with German quick commerce group
Gorillas.
Casino has already been expanding online through a deal to
use British online retailer Ocado’s fulfillment platform, while
its Monoprix supermarket arm has a deal with Amazon.
Commenting on the new partnership, which will also see
Casino buying a "symbolic" stake in Gorillas, finance chief
David Lubek said: "We will benefit from their growth because we
will sell them our products. We have partnerships with Ocado,
Amazon. We have Gorillas for quick commerce. We are now well
covered on e-commerce,"
Under the deal, Casino will give Gorillas access to its
national brands products, but also to Monoprix’s private label
products, which will be available through Gorillas’ app and
delivered within minutes to customers in Paris, Lille, Bordeaux,
Lyon and Nice, the group said.
Gorillas will also undertake packing and fast delivery of
orders purchased on Monoprix and Franprix online platforms from
its French micro-fulfilment stores.
Casino, which has been selling assets to reduce its debt
burden, confirmed it was pressing ahead with a disposal plan
aimed at raising 4.5 billion euros ($5.2 billion), with 3.1
billion of deals signed or secured to date.
Sales at the group, which controls Brazil's Grupo Pao de
Acucar, totalled 7.7 billion euros in the third
quarter.
On a same-store basis and excluding fuel and calendar
effects, group sales rose 1%. That compares to a 4.1% decline in
the second quarter when its city stores in France suffered from
a lack of tourists and coronavirus curfew measures.
In France alone, sales were down 4.3% in the quarter after
falling 8.4% in the second quarter, still affected by a drop in
traffic during summer in the Paris region and the implementation
of a health pass. French hypermarkets sales were down 9.5% in
the quarter after falling 11.4% in the second quarter.
Food e-commerce, however, remained very strong, with a 26%
rise in same store net sales.
($1 = 0.8663 euros)
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon
Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Mark Potter)
