PARIS (Reuters) – Carrefour (CARR.PA), Europe’s No.1 retailer, warned 2011 profits would slump 15 percent as it cuts prices in a bid to reverse falling market share and tackle an increasingly tough economic environment.
Carrefour said it was downsizing its core Planet hypermarket revamp as it continued to face headwinds in Southern Europe, notably in Greece and Italy, and added that high commodity prices put at risk its purchasing gains goals.
Shares in the French group, which has spooked investors with
four profit warnings in less than a year, dropped 4 percent on Wednesday after it reported an unexpected first-half net loss, hit by 884 million euros of one-off charges, mainly linked to writedowns for its Italian business.
“We are biting the bullet in 2011 and rebuilding momentum in 2012 to deliver long-term sustainable profitable growth,” Chief Executive Lars Olofsson told a new conference.
Meanwhile, its new head of France, Noel Prioux, unveiled a new
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