Press - 2015

Improved activity in France: : Return to growth at Géant and recovery at Leader Price

Increase in food sales in Brazil

Strong growth of the E-commerce business

• In France, improved activity: growth in organic sales (+0.4%) and in same-store sales (+0.1%); customer traffic up +2.4% and volumes up +1.8%
  • Return to growth at Géant: same-store sales up +2.0% driven by increased traffic (+4.0%) and volumes (+5.0%)
  • Recovery at Leader Price: same-store sales by -0.9% compared with -7.1% in Q1; growth in traffic (+7.0%) and market share gain since the beginning of the year (+0.2pt over the most recent Kantar period)

• Internationally:
  • In Latin America:
    • Food sales up by +6.1% on an organic basis: good performance by food banners in Brazil (GPA Food) (+7.3% in organic sales after +7.1% in Q1) supported by traffic growth
    • Via Varejo: decline in sales explained partly by the high comparison base related to the World Cup and partly by the difficult macroeconomic environment in which, Via Varejo made market share gains (+0.7pt to 26.1% year-to-date at the end of May 2015)
  • In Asia, increased volumes and good traffic performance in Thailand, with continued expansion

• E-commerce : GMV increase of +25.8% at constant exchange rates

Starbucks Coffee Company and Casino Restauration (subsidiary of Groupe Casino) today announce a licensed partnership that will open Starbucks stores within Géant Casino Hypermarkets and Casino Supermarkets across France. The first store is expected to open before the end of 2015.

Casino Restauration will be operating full format Starbucks stores alongside Groupe Casino’s grocery sites, offering an unexpected oasis in the busy supermarket setting.  Customers will be able to enjoy the full range of Starbucks drinks and food, served by expertly-trained baristas.

Kris Engskov, president, Starbucks EMEA says: “This new partnership with Casino Restauration means we can deliver a quality Starbucks experience to many more people in convenient locations across France.  Casino Restauration has the perfect network and local expertise to deliver this new growth in the hypermarkets and supermarkets right across the country, where our customers want us to be.  We’re excited to be working together to build beautiful stores and to bring great coffee to more customers in France.”

William Charles CEO of Casino Restauration says: “For more than 40 years, Casino Restauration has been deeply committed to maintaining a constant focus on quality and to fostering continuous innovation to adapt to consumers’ changing tastes, eating habits and expectations. Known throughout France and resolutely committed to offering balanced nutrition at an affordable price, Casino Restauration has been serving families in a friendly atmosphere. We are happy to share our knowledge and working closely with Starbucks to spread the Starbucks stores in our Géant Casino Hypermarkets and Casino Supermarkets in France”.

Starbucks stores will be full store formats within Groupe Casino grocery locations, making premium coffee more accessible for customers and providing an even better shopping experience for many customers across France. The stores will be operated by Casino Restauration, the restaurant operating arm of Groupe Casino. At the moment there are over one hundred Starbucks stores in France out of a total 2200 stores across the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region.

In France, Groupe Casino currently runs 10 416 stores included 127 Géant Casino hypermarkets and 444 Casino Supermarkets.

The Casino group has signed a unilateral purchase undertaking with the Gastronome group (Terrena group) for the acquisition of its subsidiary Gastronome-Luché, which operates a plant in Luché-Pringé, in Sarthe.

It is expected that all 159 employees will be maintained.

This transaction would allow the Casino group to integrate a poultry chain with high quality products and to secure the entire supply chain: origin, quality and traceability.

Group’s total sales: €11.9 billion, up +5.3% and +2.7% on an organic basis

Strong international commercial momentum: total growth of +9.2% and organic growth of +3.7%

• Southeast Asia: strong growth of +25.4%
• Latin America
  • High growth in food sales: +10.2%
  • Near stability in sales of electronic products: -0.8%

France

• Continued improvement in organic sales (-1.3%) despite a price cuts’ carry-over effect of -1.9% and volumes growth of +0.6%
• Solid progress in volumes in most formats

E-commerce:

• Strong growth of Cnova sales: +17.7%
• Sharp increase in gross merchandise volume (GMV): +28.2%(1) driven by the rapid development of marketplaces

• Sales of €48.5bn, up +4.7% on an organic basis
  • In France:
    • End of the pricing repositioning cycle of discount banners (Géant and Leader Price)
    • Satisfactory development of premium and convenience-store banners
  • Internationally: sustained organic growth of the retailing business (+6.8%)
  • E-commerce: strong growth of Cnova (Gross Merchandise Volume up +26.6%)
• Trading profit of €2,231m, up +5.6% on an organic basis
  • In France: impact of price investments primarily at Leader Price
  • Internationally: sharp rise in profitability driven by operational efficiency plans
• Net underlying Profit, Group share of €556m (-3.9% at CER) affected by decided price cuts in France
• Free Cash Flow(1) of €846m, up +6.2% at CER, with an improvement of Cash flow(2) (+9.1% at CER) and well managed Capex
• Net financial debt/EBITDA ratio of 1.8x
• Dividend recommended at the Annual General Meeting on 12 May 2015: 3.12€ per share, unchanged compared to the previous year

The Board of Directors met on 16 February 2015 to approve the consolidated financial statements for 2014. The statutory auditors have completed their audit of the statements and are in the process of issuing their report.

Jean-Charles Naouri, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Casino Group stated:

“In 2014, the price cuts decided in France allowed a repositioning of the Group’s discount banners. This process of pricing readjustment is now complete. Traffic and volumes have been positive since the 4th quarter, confirming the relevance of our sales strategy. Internationally, food banners had an excellent year. Cnova is the 6th largest listed worldwide player in E-commerce. For 2015, the Group is confident about its development outlook.”

As exchange rates have negatively impacted the translation into euros of international subsidiaries’ results, activities and operating results’ analysis are presented below on an organic basis (i.e. at constant scope and exchange rates).

Note:
Organic and same-store changes exclude petrol and calendar effects
CER: Constant Exchange Rates
(1) Cash flow + Changes in WCR – Net CAPEX; 2013 data excluding Mercialys
(2) 2013 data excluding Mercialys, consolidated using the equity method since 21 June 2013

France’s leading e-commerce company, Cdiscount has won over French customers with its innovative, wide-ranging product assortment and the lowest prices in the market.

Following the launch of new Cdiscount websites in Brazil, Thailand, Vietnam, Colombia, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Senegal Cameroon and Belgium, Cnova N.V. (part of Groupe Casino) continues its internationalization with the opening of cdiscount.com.pa in Panama (Latin America).

Cdiscount.com.pa offers customers unique opportunities to purchase quality items at significant savings and with the delivery throughout the country. The site already boasts a large assortment including through partner stores on its Marketplace across categories such as electronics, computers, appliances and telephony.

The customers will be able to choose between home delivery and pick-up points according to their preference and through various means of payment: Paypal and credit cards.

Total Group sales of €13.3 billion in Q4 2014, up +1.3% overall and +3.1% on an organic basis (vs. +2.8% in Q3 2013)

• In France, organic growth in Q4 2014 posted a marked improvement (-0.4% vs. -1.6% in Q3 2014); traffic and volumes are now positive (same-store growth of +0.6% and +0.8% and +0.7% and +1.7% respectively for all stores):
  • Sequential improvement across all banners
  • At Géant, better same-store sales growth at -2.3% (vs. -3.9% in Q3 2014); in food, sales strongly improved and grew by +1.6% vs. -1.3% in Q3 2014. Traffic rose by +1.8% and volumes by +4.6%, with FMCG volumes up +5.7%
  • At Leader Price, same-store traffic is now positive at +1.2% and volumes are stable. Total sales increased by +2.3%. For all stores, traffic grew by +9.5% and volumes by +5.8%
• internationally, organic growth was up +5.6%, driven by sales in Brazil and good performance in Asia, where same-store sales recovered

GMV of Cnova (E-commerce) of €1,469.2 million, demonstrating strong growth of +28.6%

January 12, 2015 — Cnova N.V. (NASDAQ: CNV) today announced net sales, GMV and other data as of and for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2014.

Ø  GMV grew 28.6% from €1,144.4M to €1,471.7M in 4Q14 vs 4Q13, demonstrating Cnova’s successful strategy to develop both its direct sales and marketplace businesses

Ø  Net sales increased 19.7% from €917.7M to €1,098.6M in 4Q14 vs 4Q13

o  28.6% growth at Cnova Brazil and 15.5% growth at Cdiscount

Ø  Marketplace as a share of GMV increased from 13.2% to 21.5% in France and from 3.8% to 12.4% in Brazil in 4Q14 vs 4Q13

Ø  Active clients increased 23.1% from 11.0 M to 13.6 M in 4Q14 vs 4Q13 and orders increased 38.0% from 7.9 M to 10.8 M in 4Q14 vs 4Q13

o   Clients are placing more repeat orders and buying more items, which is a positive commercial indicator

Ø  Cdiscount GMV increased 26.1% from €627.0M to €790.5M in 4Q14 vs 4Q13 due to net sales growth of 15.5% and an 836 bps increase in marketplace as a share of GMV

Ø  Cnova Brazil GMV increased 36.6% from R$1,577.3M to R$2,153.9M in 4Q14 vs 4Q13 due to net sales growth of 28.6% and an 865 bps increase in marketplace as a share of GMV

(1) GMV or Gross Merchandise Volume is comprised of our product sales, other revenues and marketplaces business volumes, after returns, including taxes.

(2) Active clients at the end of December having purchased at least once through our sites during the last 12 months.

(3) Total placed orders before cancellation due to fraud detection or customers not paying for their order and after correction of orders placed in one period but not delivered until the following period.

(4) Marketplace share on www.cdiscount.com.

(5) Marketplace share on www.extra.com.br. 

(6) Share of placed orders value from mobile devices excluding specialty websites.

True to its mission to give everyone access to high quality at the lowest prices, Leader Price is currently the most affordable food banner in France. The banner has assertively expanded its store network, boasting a total of 1,001 sales outlets in France as of 31 December 2014. Leader Price is France’s first discount banner to offer drive-through service, now available at over 100 stores.

To enhance its relationship with customers and meet their emerging needs, Leader Price has launched a new concept in France designed to satisfy demand for local convenience, discounts and low prices: Leader Price Express.

Nearly 62% of today’s consumers shop at convenience stores and 71% appreciate their accessibility, people-scale format and extended opening hours.

Based on this observation, last July Leader Price launched the pilot phase of Leader Price Express, a new banner with a unique offering and positioning.

Leader Price Express has enhanced the existing Leader Price store network and strengthened its presence in local retail. The new convenience banner shares Leader Price’s values:

• Year-round low prices
• High-quality products and a fast shopping experience
• Stores with surface areas ranging from 75 to 300 square meters
• A simple, modern, elegant concept suited to the needs of urban shoppers
• A broad, varied offering ranging from 1,180 products at small outlets to 2,900 at 300-sq.m stores
• Assortments in which over 80% of items are Leader Price private-label products.

Following the successful pilot launch, Leader Price has stepped up the development of Leader Price Express, which had 240 outlets in France as of year-end 2014.

Leader Price, a banner committed to quality

Leader Price has built a powerful image of quality and choice in the discount market since it was created in 1990. Underpinned by a focus on everyday low prices on all products, Leader Price provides a carefully selected range of high-quality items that are perfectly suited to the needs of customers, while also offering an efficient, enjoyable shopping experience. The banner has a line-up of over 3,500 items, of which 80% are Leader Price-label products, 10% Le Prix Gagnant products and 10% national brand products. All share a commitment to health, taste, products grown or made in France, safety and traceability.

The banner’s partnership with French food critic and television personality Jean-Pierre Coffe demonstrates that quality is a question of choice. Mr. Coffe participates actively in the development and validation of core Leader Pricelabel products and other specific labels (regional, organic, special occasion and Italian). This partnership has developed through an in-depth process to lift Leader Price products to ever-higher levels of quality and taste.