Paris, 8th August 2018 – Bernstein (Sanford C. Bernstein Limited) has today (8th August 2018) released a report focusing on Casino’s relations with its French franchisees. Casino refutes the report’s presentation of the cash impact of those operations. As acknowledged by the analyst in the report, the results of the franchise partnerships are fully disclosed and appropriately accounted for. Casino has a number of franchisees in its convenience formats (Franprix Leader Price, Casino….) of which master franchises. As a result, stores move from franchise to integrated and vice versa. Casino has majority or minority stakes in those companies which results into different accounting treatments.
In summary:
– Casino has no obligation to buy back the stores transferred to franchisees
– In a very unlikely scenario where all the stores transferred would have to be simultaneously closed, the one-off cost for the Group would be limited to around 50M€.
Casino strongly believes in its franchised business model. Partnerships with franchisees have been historically at the core of the Group strategy, especially for the Franprix and Leader Price banners.
