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Retailer Carrefour fourth quarter sales growth slows as France lags

Logo of French retailer Carrefour is seen on a shopping trolley at a Carrefour hypermarket in Nice, France, April 6, 2016. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/File Photo

By Dominique Vidalon PARIS (Reuters) - Carrefour, the world's second-largest retailer, said sales growth slowed in the fourth quarter, reflecting a weaker performance in its core French market where hypermarket stores suffered in a persistently difficult environment. In Brazil, the group's second-largest market after France, business was resilient despite a slowing economy, while sales elsewhere in Europe, notably Spain, posted solid growth. In China, where Carrefour is restructuring its operations, the rate of decline in sales slowed to 5.4 percent from 7.8 percent in the third quarter. Carrefour finance chief Pierre-Jean Sivignon said 2016 recurring operating income would be "very close" to median expectations of 2.39 billion euros, implying a 2.2 percent decline from 2.445 billion euros (2.12 billion pounds) in 2015. Europe's largest retailer also hoped to launch initial public offerings for its commercial property unit Carmila and its Brazilian business this year, he said. Carrefour said fourth quarter sales reached 23.366 billion euros, above the median of analysts estimates of 23.22 billion in a Thomson Reuters poll. Stripping out fuel, currency and calendar effects, revenue grew 2.9 percent year-on-year, a slowdown from 3.2 percent growth in the third quarter. Despite the quarterly slowdown, Carrefour achieved its fifth straight year of rising sales for 2016 as a whole, as a recovery plan started by Chief Executive Georges Plassat in 2012 continues to bear fruit. Carrefour, which makes 73 percent of its sales in Europe, is pursuing a recovery strategy focusing on price and cost cuts along with expansion into smaller convenience stores, while also renovating its chain of hypermarkets. "In 2017 Carrefour will continue to strengthen all its (growth) boosters to pursue profitable growth," Sivignon said. In France, where Carrefour makes 43 percent of its sales, like-for-like revenue rose 0.7 percent in the quarter, a slowdown from 1.2 percent growth in the third quarter amid fierce price competition among retailers. Closely watched same-store sales at Carrefour's French hypermarkets fell 1.2 percent after a 1.0 percent decline in the third quarter but supermarkets and convenience stores had a robust performance. Carrefour's performance in France still outpaced that of smaller rival Casino