Carrefour Sales Rise on Latin America and Asia; Delhaize Q4 Revenues Rise

Barry Randall
17 Jan, 2013
New York City

AB Foods reported first quarter sales increased 10% and France based Carrefour said Latin America and Asia sales lifted total sales. Delhaize Group reported better than expected results and closed more Food Lion stores in the U.S. Remy Cointreau surged 8% but organic sales growth slowed.

AB Foods increased 4% to 1,615 pence after the food and clothing group said first quarter revenues increased 10%.

Carrefour gained 0.5% to €20.43 after the hypermarket operator reported 0.8% increase in fourth quarter sales to €22.9 billion after Latin America sales increased 4.8% and sales in France gained 0.6%. Sales in Europe outside France declined 2.4%. Sales in Asia soared 5.6%.

Sales including VAT in the full-year 2012 increased 1% to €86.55 billion.

Delhaize Group soared 10% to €35.05 after the supermarket operator reported fourth quarter revenues increased 0.3% and gained 2.9% in 2012. The operator of food supermarket said underlying operating profit declined 17.5% from a year ago and free cash flow is estimated to increase above €600 million.

The operator of Food Lion stores in the U.S. said, full year revenues increased 7.7% in 2012 to €22.7 billion. Sales in the U.S. increased 0.9% and comparable sales at stores declined 0.8%. Stores in South Eastern Europe soared 34% after the acquisition of Maxi stores and stron performances in Greece and Romania.

EADS added 3.9% to €33.69, a high in six years after regulators in U.S., Japan and India grounded rival Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner for investigation after a second incident involving the overheating of the battery made by GS Yuasa based in Japan.

Remy Cointreau soared 8% to €92 after the maker of wines and spirits said third quarter organic revenues increased 0.5%. The spirits maker said cognac sales increased 1.7%. Total sales in the quarter increased 6.5%.

Organic sales growth in the third quarter declined to 0.5% from the 5.3% in the second quarter and 24.5% in the first quarter. Sales in the nine months increased 17.5% to €964.5 million.

Scoth whiskey sales in the U.S. continued to grow but the Champagne business was adversely affected by the weak European consumer spending.

Veolia Environnement SA increased 3% to €8.85 after the water focused company’s chief executive Antoine Frerot said that the company is ahead of its two-year plan to cut its debt and sell assets.