A 37 per cent decline in sales from its stores in the Americas pushed full year sales at French retail giant Carrefour into the red, but the company emphasised the improvement in its sales on a constant exchange rate basis.
The impact of the devaluation of currencies in Brazil and Argentina contributed to a 6.1 per cent decline in exchange rates during the year, Carrefour said, but sales grew in the company's other markets, in particular Europe (excluding France).
Including the impact of currencies, sales for 2002 were €76.8 billion, down from €78 billion in the previous year. At constant exchange rates, however, sales were up 4.5 per cent.
Domestic sales were up 1.8 per cent at €39.1 billion, while sales to the rest of Europe were up 6.9 per cent to €26.3 billion. Asian sales (mainly Taiwan, China and Korea) were ahead 1.8 per cent at €5 billion (or 6.2 per cent on a constant basis), but the 37 per cent drop in American sales to 6.3 per cent undid all the good work elsewhere. On a constant basis, sales in the Americas were up 7.8 per cent.
France accounted for 51 per cent of total group sales during the year, up from 49 per cent in 2001, while the rest of Europe took 34.2 per cent (compared to 31.5 per cent in 2001). These gains came at the expense of both the Americas (8.3 per cent compared to 12.9 per cent) and Asia (6.5 per cent from 6.3 per cent).
The hypermarket format remained the most important for Carrefour, accounting for 59.6 per cent of sales (slightly higher than in 2001), while supermarkets saw their share decline from 19.8 per cent to 18.4 per cent. Hard discount stores registered a slight rise to 6.8 per cent, while other store formats increased from 14.6 per cent to 15.2 per cent.
Carrefour said its full 2002 results would be published in March, but that despite the decline in actual sales, it was maintaining its forecast of earnings per share growth of around 10-15 per cent.
Full details of Carrefour's performance during the year can be found on the company's website.