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French food retailer Casino cut its annual earnings outlook as a poor performance from its large format hyper and supermarket stores dragged on the indebted group.
The troubled company slashed its forecast for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to €100mn, down from the €214mn it had predicted over the summer.
A combination of falling sales and the price cuts needed to keep customers in a competitive market were to blame, Casino said on Thursday.
Sales in France, its core market, fell 5.6 per cent in the most recent quarter while growth in its stores across Paris slowed to just 0.4 per cent. The company blamed that on unfavourable weather hitting demand for non-food items.
Casino has finalised an agreement for a capital injection led by Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský and a debt restructuring as the heavily indebted French food retailer rushes to avert default.
It entered an accelerated safeguard procedure late on Wednesday to finalise the plan and force creditors who have not signed on to comply. By the end of the third quarter, Casino’s debt had climbed by €200mn to €5.6bn.
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