Carrefour may be the pace setter in the French food retail market, but Casino is more than capable of keeping up with its larger rival, partly by adopting a very similar strategy.
Both chains have a multi-format approach to the food retail market, operating hypermarkets and supermarkets as well as convenience and discount stores. And if Casino's overseas operations are not quite as widespread as Carrefour's, that does not make them any less successful.
Casino has today announced nine month sales growth of 5.2 per cent on a like-for-like basis (compared to 6.2 per cent for Carrefour in the same period), although sales of €16.7 billion were just 0.7 per cent higher than the same period a year earlier on a reported basis, mainly as a result of exchange rates.
With these currency problems still impacting international operations, the main driver of growth in the period was France, where like-for-like sales improved 4.6 per cent to €13.3 billion, with a particularly strong showing from the Leader Price discount chain (sales up 10 per cent to €2.8 billion) and the Petit Casino superettes (up 13.2 per cent to €1.3 billion) during the period.
The international business, which accounts for 20 per cent of turnover, was also affected by the sale of the company's US operations during the period, and sales of €3.4 billion for the nine months were 11.9 per cent lower than the previous year on a reported basis as a result. Like-for-like sales were nonetheless 7.2 per cent ahead of the same period in 2002.
Sales in the US were up 4.7 per cent for the nine months on a comparable store basis, while there were also gains in Uruguay (8.2 per cent), Venezuela (14.7 per cent) and Thailand (1.5 per cent) during the period. But the businesses in Poland, Argentina and Taiwan all registered declines in same-store sales, due mainly to poor economic conditions in these markets.
So, a performance with plenty to be pleased about, and one which reflects that of Carrefour, driven by small store sales growth in the home market and a steady improvement in currency-affected international businesses.
But will Casino be as aggressive in expanding its international business as Carrefour, or does it see better growth prospects in the home market, especially as it seems to be carving up the small store sector there with Carrefour and keeping other major players - notably Auchan - out of the running?