The chief executive of Carrefour Brasil, Stéphane Maquaire, said this Tuesday (14) that the company expects to be able to complete conversions of stores in the acquired group BIG in the third quarter, earlier than expected.
The company, which has Atacadão as one of its main assets, completed the acquisition of BIG last year and at the time the goal was to complete, in early 2024, the conversion of more than 120 stores acquired from the chain into other brands of the group.
“We hope to be able to have this all finalized during the third quarter of this year, sooner than we initially thought,” Maquaire told analysts.
Carrefour Brasil announced on Monday night (13) a 28.2% drop in adjusted net profit for the fourth quarter compared to a year earlier, pressured in part by costs of conversions of stores acquired from BIG.
Shares of Carrefour Brasil were up 3.7% at 12:03 am, while the Ibovespa had a positive fluctuation of 0.2%. Analysts at BTG Pactual led by Luiz Guanais wrote that operating results were resilient and exceeded their estimates, in an assessment that excludes BIG’s numbers.
Maquaire stated that Carrefour Brasil is preparing “very strong” commercial actions for the cash and carry sector in the first half, a segment in which it competes more intensely with rival Assaí. He did not detail what those measures would be.
The company’s financial and investor relations director, David Murciano, reiterated his speech that there is no concern about banks’ appetite for debt refinancing, after being questioned about recent events in the retail sector, in particular the judicial recovery of Americanas .
The executive had already addressed the matter in a conversation with journalists the day before, when he said that the environment is “a little more complicated”, but that Carrefour has been having “good talks” with financial institutions.
Carrefour Brasil saw its debt and leverage rise with the acquisition of BIG and the rise in interest rates in the country. According to the executives, the main recipe for combating these factors is to increase cash generation, while parallel projects will also be carried out. Among them is the plan, disclosed at the end of 2022, to consolidate its real estate assets into a holding company, which would have a stake sold to a new partner.
“The idea is to do everything in 2023, that’s the goal,” said Murciano, after being asked when this project should get off the ground.
Source: CNN Brasil
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