2023-12-19 10:27:00
A company dismantles the letters of the word “Casino” on the facade of a supermarket in order to replace them with the letters of the word “Intermarché”, in Poitiers, on October 3. JEAN-FRANCOIS FORT / HANS LUCAS
Major facade renovation in sight in shopping malls or around roundabouts. The Casino group announced, Monday, December 18, that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with Intermarché and Auchan, in order to sell them 313 stores – having achieved a turnover of 3.6 billion euros in 2022 (excluding gasoline ) – for a price of 1.35 billion euros. The Saint-Etienne distributor is preparing to sell almost all of its hypermarkets and supermarkets: only 13 large stores in Corsica are not affected by this operation. As for the 56 franchised stores under the Casino banner, they will subsequently determine whether or not they wish to join these brands.
Read the report: Article reserved for our Casino subscribers: in Saint-Etienne, anger and concern of employees, before a decisive week
The affair was carried out smoothly. The group led by Jean-Charles Naouri had asked its competitors to express their interest on November 29. The Les Mousquetaires-Auchan tandem was the only one to offer a buyout of most of the area put up for sale. But Casino was able to organize a competition by combining complementary offers from other brands. The German Lidl offered to take over all of the supermarkets. E.Leclerc had targeted a few hypermarkets. And Carrefour had established a list of some 80 stores (including many franchises) for which it applied, on the condition that Casino at the same time transfers its convenience stores (Spar, Petit Casino, Vival, etc.) to it for more of 500 million euros.
A tactical move on the part of Alexandre Bompard, the CEO of Carrefour, because Casino had not put its 6,300 convenience stores and other small points of sale (service stations, tobacconists, etc.) up for sale. Objective for Carrefour, to participate in the auctions in order to push Intermarché and Auchan to outbid, while showing its appetite for proximity. This approach worked, in part, as the duo increased their offer by 100 million euros over the weekend to ensure they outpaced Lidl, which was very keen to grow on this side of the Rhine. On the other hand, convenience stores remain, for the moment, within the fold of Casino, in the same way as Monoprix, Franprix, Naturalia and CDiscount.
“Social support”
If it comes to fruition, the sale of hypermarkets and supermarkets will allow Casino to shed a source of operational losses estimated at 500 million euros in 2023. But the consequences on employment will be serious. “All employees of the transferred stores would be taken over by the Groupement Les Mousquetaires and Auchan Retail”specifies a press release from the seller, which employs 16,000 employees in hypermarkets and supermarkets under the Casino brand out of a total workforce of 50,000 people in France.
You have 60% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
#Intermarché #Auchan #advantage #Casinos #difficulties