Carrefour Q3 sales slow with weak France, keeps goals
PARIS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Carrefour, Europe's largest retailer, said on Tuesday that sales growth slowed in the third quarter, reflecting a weaker performance in its core French market where fewer promotional periods notably hit hypermarket sales.
Carrefour nevertheless said that it was on track with a strategic overhaul plan aimed at boosting earnings and sales and that it was sticking with its targets under the plan.
Third-quarter sales came to 20.2 billion euros ($22.50 billion). Growth reached 2.3 percent on a like-for-like basis - excluding fuel and calendar effects - against 3.9% in the second quarter.
Carrefour is in the midst of a five-year plan to cut costs, boost e-commerce investment and step up its focus on organic food and convenience stores to tackle competition from the likes of unlisted rival Leclerc and Amazon. ($1 = 0.8977 euros) (Reporting by Dominique Vidalon Editing by GV De Clercq)
