Press

Group consolidated sales of €23.7bn, up +1.8%

• In France:
  • Return to organic growth in Q2 2015 (+0.4%)
  • The two banners which significantly repositioned their prices, Géant and Leader Price, confirmed their recovery
• Internationally:
  • Strong performance in the food retail business, particularly in Latin America
  • Against a backdrop of macroeconomic slowdown and base effect, Via Varejo reported lower sales, but continued to gain market shares
• E-commerce: Cnova’s gross merchandise volume (GMV) continued to grow (+26.8% at constant exchange rates in H1 2015) driven by the development of marketplaces

Group trading profit of €521m, down compared with H1 2014

• In France, significant residual impact of previous price cuts on the sales margins of Géant and Leader Price; this impact will wane in H2 2015
• Internationally, macroeconomic slowdown and base effect in Brazil affecting the margins of GPA Food and Via Varejo in Q2 2015
• E-commerce: impact of the investments made in Q1 2015 to drive growth (infrastructure, logistics, etc.)

Increasing Net profit Group share of €75m and lower Underlying net profit Group share of €63m.

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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.