Arnault takes stake in Carrefour

Bernard Arnault, France's richest man and chairman of luxury goods group LVMH, has taken a stake in French supermarket group Carrefour. Together with private equity firms Colony Capital and Axon Capital, Arnault has built up a 9.1 percent stake in Carrefour, taking the stock market by surprise. Their stake is valued at €3.4 billion.

Arnault and Colony have said that the investment is strategic and want to work with Carrefour owners the Halley family and management. Robert Halley is the new chairman of the supermarket group, replacing Luc VandeVelde who quit in January. Halley was previously a non-executive director.

There has been speculation that the Halley family want to exit Carrefour. The new move by Arnault and Colony might signify a changing of the guard. A source close to the Halley family told the FT that Arnault and Colony would likely have a large role in determining the company's future. The board continued to back Carrefour's chief executive José Luis Duran.

www.carrefour.com
8 March 2007

BCBG Max Azria signs to Carrefour

Groupe Carrefour, the French retail giant, has signed a deal with BCBG Max Azria for the fashion label to supply a women's ready-to-wear collection to the international chain. The company hopes to further develop its presence outside the food sector.

Under the terms of the agreement BCBG Max Azria will design, produce and supply women's collections for Carrefour's chains of hypermarkets in France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Portugal and Greece. The debut Fall/Winter 2007 collection will hit shelves in Carrefour stores during the second semester of next year. The deal is latest in a growing trend that sees name designers create specific collections that retail solely in giant retail chains, rather than department stores.

The Carrefour-BCBG collection will be designed in the fashion house's Los Angeles headquarters, where Azria's proximity to Hollywood has seen him design an impressive cluster of music and screen stars, including Sharon Stone, Halle Berry, Beyonce Knowles, Keira Knightly and Eva Longoria. Expect casual t-shirts and jeans, sophisticated sportswear and dresses.

Carrefour, which currently employs over 400,000 people and last financial year earned over EUR 93bn, aims to build a global synergy between two well-known international brand names. For the cut-price retail chain it's also a cunning way of raising its profile and positioning among consumers.

" Col laborating with an internationally renowned fashion company such as BCBG Max Azria Group is integral to Carrefour Group's strategy to further develop its sales in the non-food sector," the chain said in a press release. Azria's design and retail expertise "will help Carrefour reinvent their fashion offering, breathing new life into the category through both the product and the in-store environment." BCBG stands for the French term ‘bon chic bon genre,' in other words, good attitude, good style.

www.carrefour.com
www.bcbg.com
18 December 2006

Carrefour Q1 sales rise

The world's second largest retailer, Carrefour, reported a sales rise of 6 percent for the fourth quarter. The French company said that sales for the three months ended 31 March had risen to €20.42 billion, despite a weak European market outside France . Like-for-like sales in the company's French hypermarkets increased 2.7 percent, while supermarket sales rose 3.2 percent.

Overall sale in France rose 5 percent to €9.69 billion. European like-for-like sales, excluding France , remained flat, affected by deflation and weakened consumer confidence. Meanwhile sales in Latin America gained 8.9 percent to €1.66 billion and sales in Asia rose 10.1 percent to €1.44 billion. The company said it was set to achieve sales growth this year, thanks to its hard-line expansion strategy.

www.carrefour.com
14 april 2006

Carrefour merger rumours false

The brandnew chairman of retail group Carrefour, Luc Vandevelde, has suppressed rumours of a potential merger with rival Tesco. He revealed that he plans on keeping the business independent. Vandevelde joined Carrefour two weeks ago from Marks & Spencer. He succeeded Daniel Bernard, who resigned from Carrefour recently after running the group for 13 years.

Carrefour is the world's seond-biggest retalier but has been losing favour in the French market in the past few years. Last October it was forced to issue a profit warning. At present, the group operates 10,400 stores in 29 countries.

www.carrefour.fr
8 February 2005

Ex M&S chairman appointed at Carrefour

Luc Vandevelde, the former chairman of Marks & Spencer, is expected to be appointed as the non-executive chairman of French retailer Carrefour within a month. The appointment will propel Vandevelde into one of the biggest jobs in global retailing, just 10 months after he quit M&S following criticism that he wasn't devoting sufficient time to the high street retailer.

Vandevelde has been on the Carrefour board since 2003 as the representative of the Halley family, which owns 11.5 per cent of the company's shares.

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23 January 2005