Carrefour reports drop in first quarter sales

PARIS: French retailer Carrefour on Thursday, 16 April 2009, reported a 2.8% decline in first quarter sales to €22.71 billion (US$30 billion) against last year, a fall it blamed on a weak performance in Europe. Sales in Europe, excluding France, were down 5.9% from first quarter 2008 while those in France fell 5.1%. Carrefour, the world's second largest retail outlet, does 60% of its business in Europe. Sales in Asia, including newly opened stores, rose 14.7%. But taking account of a comparable number of stores between the first quarter of 2008 and 2009 turnover in Asia fell 6.7%. Only in Latin America did sales from a comparable number of stores show an improvement, 5.1%, in the first quarter, according to Carrefour.