Carrefour Sa

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the CAR4 half-year 2026 results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, please press star 1 1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 1 again. Please note that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your speaker, Mr. Alexandre Bompard, Chairman and CEO of Carrefour. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Bonsoir à tous. And thank you for joining us today to discuss our first half of 2026. This semester was marked by the elaboration of our new strategic plan, Carrefour 2030. that we had carefully and extensively prepared with all our teams. It has also been a very active semester in terms of communication and investor engagement around the plan. We intensified our dialogue with shareholders on the broader financial community, including through the CSR Capital Market Day we had on June the 16th. The feedback? We received from the investment community has been very encouraging and I'm not referring only to the share price performance since February. Investors have welcomed our sharper operational focus on our core markets, our investment program to modernize our stores, and our tech roadmap notably through our partnership with Vision and the broad deployment of AI. Our objectives in terms of price competitiveness, market share gains, and financial performance are well understood. We also recognize that expectations have now shifted from the strategy itself to its execution. And that's exactly where our focus is today. Execution has started at a high pace. Let me share a few first examples. With the support of Concordis and the proceeds of our performance plans, we invested in our competitiveness and customers' purchasing power. We accelerated the rollout of new in-store fresh areas, fresh concessions, and we opened the first match with a distinctive fresh offer. We pursued our expansion agenda in proximity stores, particularly in France and Spain. We deployed Vusions AI technology with connected wireless cameras and real-time out-of-stock alerts, leading to added sales and productivity improvements in our first hypermarkets equipped. We also completed the disposals of Carrefour Romania as part of our geographical focus. Looking at our results, we delivered a solid performance. Sales were up thanks to good commercial dynamics and driven by a strong e-commerce. Our club program is meeting great success with new members enhancing traffic and fueling our data lake. Our recurring operating income is growing driven by our three main countries. Total net free cash flow is up versus H1 2025 and EPS is up 18%. Based on these metrics on the business trends in our core markets, we confirm all our financial targets for the year. Looking at our performance by geography. In France and Spain, despite a volatile environment, markets held up well overall. In France, our sales were up across all formats, supported by our consistently improved price positioning and the increase of our Net Promoter Score. We also see a positive dynamic since the beginning of the summer. Former Cora stores' sales were up 5% in Q2, doubling versus Q1. And we kept strong cost discipline. As a consequence, recurring operating income increased by 14% compared with the first half of 2025. In Spain, we confirmed our positive momentum in the second quarter. We continued to invest in pricing competitiveness. We benefited from sustained growth in fresh product hypermarkets. We expanded our network of convenience stores, which continue to grow at a solid pace and confirms the relevance of the model. Profitability was up 7% in the country. In Brazil, in a macroeconomic environment that remains complex, we recorded an improvement in sales, turning back to positive territory in Q2 2026, with encouraging momentum at the beginning of the summer. Atacadao's performance improved, notably supported by the commercial initiatives launched by our new general manager. Our other banners held up well, and we also launched a cross-banner loyalty program to strengthen our customer ecosystem. Our profitability remained resilient, with recurring operating income increasing by 6% driven by a solid cost discipline. In other countries, we confirmed our positive trajectory in Belgium with a return to market share gains. In Poland, the environment remains highly competitive, but we continue to reduce costs and reshape our footprint with a clear focus on our best performing stores. In Argentina, The consumer environment has been challenging, which weighted on our operating performance and on our banking activities. The new general manager that I have appointed has reshuffled our commercial model, with encouraging results as June recorded the first positive volumes since December 2023. Overall, we look at the second half of the year with confidence. We will reinforce our positive momentum and execute our plan with consistency in the amelioration of our price competitiveness, continued acceleration on fresh with the opening of new match frequency, further deployment of vision on our AI roadmap, maintain cost discipline, Acceleration in store modernization to support our format, our customer experience, and our long-term rules. ACSR on food transition index at 107%. At the same time, we will maintain a high level of dialogue with our investors. We will notably hold our third Capital Markets Day this year, which will be dedicated to hypermarkets on 17th of November. Thank you for your attention. I'll now hand over to Matthieu for more details on our financial performance.

Thank you, Alexandre, and good afternoon to everyone. It's a pleasure to be with you all to cover our 2026 first half financial results in detail. Before we get into the numbers, I would like to remind you that following completion of the divestment of Carrefour Romania at the end of June, Carrefour Romania is a are deconsolidated as of July 1st in our accounts. For H1-2026, Carrefour's operations in Romania are accounted for as discontinued operations in accordance with the IFRS 5 accounting standard. Let's start on slide 5 to the presentation with the details of our Q2 sales. Total sales for the quarter reached €22.7 billion. Group like-for-like sales were up 1.9% over the quarter despite high comps in Q2 2025 linked to a strong activity in France and Spain in June 2025. The scope effect had a negative contribution of minus 0.8% over the quarter, notably due to the sale of six hypermarkets in France as antitrust remedies following the acquisition of Cora Unmatch. Petrol added 1.3 percentage points to the growth and the calendar effect was a negative minus 0.6%. Forex had a favorable impact on total sales growth of 1.1% over the quarter, essentially reflecting the appreciation of the Brazilian real. In total, reported revenue was up 2.8% in Q2. Moving on to slide six with more details on the performance of France. Activity remained dynamic in the second quarter with like-for-like sales up 1% in a market where food consumption held up well, notably in volume terms with continued growth. As was the case in Q1, all formats posted positive like-for-like sales growth in Q2. Former Cora and Match stores are accelerating their like-for-likes month after month, reflecting the success of the transformation of the commercial model. They reported plus 4.6% like-for-like in Q2 after 2.6% in Q1. Recurring operating income grew by 13.8% in the first half of the year, with a margin expansion of 16 basis points, reaching 1.5% of sales. The group managed to offset its price investments as well as higher energy and transportation costs due to the crisis in the Middle East and successive heat waves thanks to continued optimization of operational efficiency and cost reduction initiatives. We're also satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations with Concorde. Cora and Match operating profit slightly improved over the semester benefiting from positive volumes and the end of integration costs but was penalized, as you said Juan last year, by the lower margin of the Carrefour commercial model which was implanted over the summer 2025. Let's turn to slide seven with the impact of key operating initiatives of this first semester in France. Carrefour France continued to improve its price competitiveness with three new waves of price decreases in March, April, and June, each covering more than 500 SKUs in different categories of products with an average price reduction of 8%. For the 50th anniversary of Carrefour branded products, a basket of 200 SKUs sold at cost price was also introduced, meeting great success with customers. As a result, Carrefour hypermarkets now hold second place in terms of price positioning in France as per Nielsen's DistribriNet index. These investments have been well perceived by consumers as reflected by a two-point increase in NPS in France. At former Cora stores, NPS was up 15 points, reflecting the attractiveness of the new commercial model with lower prices More Promotions, and Extended Private Labels. Overall, Carrefour had a stable market share over this first semester. Regarding the initiatives of Carrefour 2030, the rollout is unfolding as planned. We strengthened our leadership in the convenience format with 234 new stores opened in H1. We also reinforced our market share in e-commerce, both in home delivery and click and collect. New commercial concepts are being deployed in hypermarkets, notably dedicated fresh areas or growth verticals like Tara Pharmacy. Three hypermarkets and two supermarkets were transferred to lease management. We confirmed the targets for the full year, 15 hypers and 40 supers. These various operating initiatives are resonating well with customers, and an additional 300,000 members joined our loyalty program. Let's move to slide eight with a focus on Spain, where the group experienced strong momentum in the second quarter with like-for-like sales up 2.2%. Market conditions are still supportive with positive volumes and a slight inflation. In that context, Spain delivered a solid performance in food with a 2.3% like-for-like increase in sales, notably were all driven by strong growth in fresh products in hypermarkets where we maintain constant focus on quality, availability, and affordability. Over the semester, Carrefour Spain continued to invest in its customers' purchasing power with several campaigns, including unbeatable pricing and dedicated operations for members of the loyalty program, which attracted close to 500,000 new members to pass the 11 million members threshold. At the same time, customer satisfaction kept improving with NPS up four points in Q2. In line with its expansion plan, Carrefour Spain grew its footprint in convenience stores with 78 stores opened in H1. Finally, e-commerce progressed well with an increase in GMV of plus 8.4% in Q2. This strong commercial momentum translated into an improvement in profitability both in absolute terms and in percentage of sales. Overall, the first half, over the first half, recurring operating income was at 7.3% at 177 million euros with a 14 bps increase in operating margin to 3.3%. Turning to slide 9 with the performance in Brazil. High interest rates continued to weigh on consumer purchasing power. In this still complex macroeconomic environment marked by negative volumes, Carrefour outperformed its market. The group recorded an improvement in sales, with Like for Like turning back to positive territory at plus 0.4%, with an increase of plus 0.5% at Atacadao. The retail segment posted a sequential improvement with hypers up plus 2.5% like for like. Retail like for like was penalized by non-food e-commerce operations as Carrefour Brazil slowed down this activity to prioritize its profitability. The financial services segment performed well with a 13% increase in the credit portfolio. Carrefour Brazil increased its recurring operating income by 5.8% over the semester to reach €359 million. Margin also improved in H1 and was up 9 basis points thanks to a well-calibrated commercial equation and strict cost discipline. In the second half of 2026, we expect to see continued stabilization in our volumes and further cost optimization. Moving on to slide 10 to mention a few key initiatives.

Atacadao adapted its commercial model.

It notably simplified its assortment to focus on the highest rotations and less the deeper promotions. It also launched the Bullness private label brand, which now features 200 SKUs. E-commerce remained strong during the semester with a 30% increase in GMV. Consequently, Atacadao gained market share in the cash and carry format over the semester and its volumes have been stable since the beginning of the summer. Carrefour Retail also gained market share. B2B customers keep buying more and now represent 9% of sales. In H1, we progressively deploy new concepts in non-food in the Brazilian hypermarket including home decor, home textile and DIY with encouraging initial impact on sales. Sam's Club also grew volumes thanks to more active members. As announced during our Carrefour 2030 strategic plan presentation in February, we launched our new loyalty program Nosso Clube in Brazil. With this new unified loyalty program aims at maximizing the ecosystem value and encouraging cross-shopping among all our formats. Moving to the other countries segment on slide 11. Performance for the half reflects mixed situations in each market. Belgium confirmed its positive commercial momentum with a sequential acceleration in sales at plus 1.3% like-for-like in Q2, less than 0.8% in Q1, driven by positive volumes. Market share was stable in Q2. ROI was broadly stable in Belgium. In Poland, sales were down minus 5.8% like for like. The environment remained competitive and consumption sluggish. The local team has implemented strict cost control and well optimized the store portfolio with the sale or closure of underperforming stores. As a result, ROI slightly improved in Poland. In Argentina, market conditions were challenging, with significant pressure on consumers' purchasing power and negative food volumes in the market. In that context, the initiatives implemented by the new management team supported a positive sales dynamic, with like-for-like up by 23.5% and gradually improving volumes. Volumes eventually turned positive in June, for the first time since December 23. In this context of pressure on purchasing power, negative volumes and higher cost of risk at the bank pushed ROI down in H1 in Argentina. Moving to the top part of our global P&L on slide 12. Gross margin was down 28 basis points in H1 due to more investment in competitive business and the structural shift of our operating model towards franchise. SG&A expenses stood at 14.7% of sales with an improvement of 30 basis points compared to last year. The group delivered well on its cost savings plan with 490 million euros achieved in H1. This is in line with the objective of 1 billion euros for the full year. All this leads to a small increase in the group's operating margin to 1.9%, driven by the three core countries, France, Spain, and Brazil, where ROI was up plus 9% in H1. Together, they offset the decline in ROI in Argentina and a negative comparison basis in global functions. Indeed, in H1 2025, global functions recorded a provision reversal from long-term incentives and Vareable Compensation than initially planned. This did not recur in H1 2026, where global functions is back to a level close to 2024. Turning to slide 13, let's walk through the P&L items below the operating line. Non-recurring expenses increased to 165 million euros, a more usual level and the 2025 number which reflected capital gains on the disposal of the stake in Carmilla and real estate assets. Net cost of debt decreased significantly to 121 million euros reflecting the refinancing of all external debts at Carrefour Brazil which was implemented in H225. Other financial income and expenses were a negative 38 million euros against a high were recognized following favorable court decisions, an effect that did not recur this year. So bottom line, adjusted net income group share strongly increased by 26.8% to reach 345 million euros. These translate into an adjusted EPS of 0.49 euros for the first semester, up by 18.3%. Let's now move to the key moving parts of the net free cash flow. As you can see on the right-hand side of the page, which excludes Italy, net free cash flow is slightly down versus last year, which was minus 1,922,000,000 euros in H1, excluding Italy. Forex was a headwind of 53 million euros linked to Brazil, explained by a stronger real against the euro on a negative free cash flow during the first half of the year. Real estate net free cash flow is also lower than last year in H1, with less divestments in H1 versus last year. Excluding these two technical and calendar effects, net free cash flow is up 64 million euros. Please note that these two items should reverse in full-year 2026 net free cash flow. Full-year Forex is expected to be a positive on a full-year positive cash flow. Real estate net free cash flow is expected to reach 200 to 300 million euros as guided at the beginning of the year as more disposals will happen in H2. We are notably advanced on two sale and leaseback operations that could be announced in Q3. Moving on to slide 15. As you can see, we now detail the net free cash flow generation by distinguishing between cash flow generated by retail operations and that stemming from the real estate activity. Let me highlight the key moving parts of the retail operating net free cash flow. EBITDA increased by 45 million euros. The financial results were 71 million euros lower against a high Basis of comparison linked to the recognition of tax credits in Brazil in H125. Change in working capital was down by 90 million euros, impacted by higher inventory levels at the end of June in France. Retail capex were broadly stable. This results in retail operating net free cash flow at minus 1 billion 825 million euros compared to minus 1 billion 757 million euros in H125. It's roughly stable if we exclude a negative currency effect from Brazil of minus 46 million euros. Real estate net free cash flow standing at minus 41 million euros down versus last year due to different calendarization of real estate divestments and investments versus last year. The decrease is mainly linked to a 99 million decrease in real estate disposals at 39 million euros in H1 as 2026 divestments will happen more in H2 this year versus last year. Finally, as already mentioned, the net cost of financial debt decreased by 81 million euros in H1 mainly linked to the refinancing of Carrefour Brazil debt carried out in H2 25. I will now complete this H1 financial review with a few words on net financial debt which decreased by 1.1 billion euros. Net debt amounts to 5.8 billion euros on June 30, 2026. The page being straightforward, I will just detail acquisitions and disposals that represent a positive net impact of 260 million euros. They notably include the disposal of Carrefour Romania for approximately 500 million euros. The group also sold stores, including six hypermarkets linked to the French Competition Authority's decision. These positive impacts are partly offset by the effect from the sale of Carrefour Italy for minus 181 million euros already mentioned in February, as well as other small acquisitions. This concludes my presentation. I thank you for your attention. Alexandre and I are now available to take your questions.

Operator, do you want to start the Q&A session? Sorry, we're going to start the Q&A session in just a second. So it seems we have a problem with the operator.

I understand the first question comes from William Woods. Could you please connect William, operator?

William, can you try talking to us?

Hello.

Yeah, we hear you.

Good evening. Thanks very much for taking the questions.

The first one is on France. I suppose when you look at your market share performance versus what you set out in the CMD, what are you doing in order to drive more market share gains over the next couple of years?

And are you happy with that performance in the last couple of months? And then the second one is,

On your H1 margins, a flat year-over-year, in order to get to the more than 25 bps of margin expansion, what do you see as the main drivers of the acceleration in operating profit in H2? Thank you.

Thank you, William. So, your first question is on the market share in France. In a nutshell, in H1 we have a Stable market share, positive in Q1 and in Q2. The market share was stable. If we exclude the disposal of remedies of the acquisition of Cora, as you maybe know, we have to sell six hypermarkets, which were remedies from the Cora Match and Casino acquisition in 2024. and of course it has had an effect on our market share around 14 big points. We remain very confident in our trajectory to reach our 25 market share target by 2030. Our market share is already positive in volume. We have made great improvements in our commercial offering. The strength of our loyalty program is constantly being reinforced. We continue and we have invested a lot in prices which actively drives our volumes. You've probably seen that we are now positioned as the number two in the French market. And the former Cora stores are ramping up well. Following the deployment of Carrefour's commercial equation last year, these stores are now growing faster than the historical footprint and the pace of life alike has doubled between Q1 and Q2. So we are very confident we will be able to continue to leverage Carrefour's commercial proposition to our customers and grow organically in the next quarters. Concerning your question on the margins, as you understood, we are very satisfied with the performance we deliver in H1, notably driven by the steady 9% growth in recurring operating income in our free core country, which is consistent with our full year guidance as well with consensus for the full year. This puts us in the right position to deliver on our full year objectives and mainly the 25 bps increase in operating margin. I would say from a business standpoint and from a financial standpoint. From a business standpoint, I will start and Matthieu will continue. In France and Spain, The markets are positive and even dynamic in Spain, and we see this trend continuing in H2. Additionally, we had a good commercial operating dynamic, and we see it accelerate further in H2. In Brazil, in H1, we posted a good profit growth despite weak volumes this semester. and things look better for H2 with volume trends at Atacadao improving, food inflation turning a little more positive and more cost savings ahead of us. Last, Argentina you see was difficult in H1. We had negative volumes and increased cost of risk but we think the worst is behind us. We are sure about that and the new commercial policy is performing well. Volumes are back in positive territory on cost of risk stabilized. From a financial standpoint, Matthieu?

Yeah, well, from a financial standpoint, so we grew 9% recurring operating income in our three core countries. The space of growth is consistent with the full year guidance and where the market consensus is for the full year. There are maybe three additional points. The first one is that Cora and Match will have an acceleration of earnings in the second half. You know that the commercial model was implemented for the first time in this H1, so it did weigh on profitability. But in H2, we will lap over the implementation, which And then Argentina, where we expect a better performance. And then the global functions, we had the technical elements in the Thank you very much. Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Manjari Dhar from RBC. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my questions. I just had two, if I may. My first question is on France. I think you talked about your pricing, your three ways of pricing initiative. I was just wondering how much work is there still to do on pricing in France? Are there further investments planned? and how quickly do you think that the price perception is improving in France with the consumer? Do you think that there is still more work to do in getting the consumer to understand the work you've done on pricing? And then my second question was on digital and AI. I just wondered if you could give some color on The learning so far from the new technology you've deployed, the new vision technology, and any other insights you could give on that would be really helpful. Thank you.

Thank you for your question. Your first question is about price competitiveness and the initiative we have continued to deploy. So in this semester, we continue as we are now committed to invest in our price competitiveness and to reinforce and to improve our price competitiveness with two main mechanics. The first is the three waves of investment in national brands of 500 products each. by around 10%. And the second is an operation on our private ground on 200 products at the beginning of, at the end of February. All that, on all the other initiatives, we have been taken, reinforced by all we are doing in terms of promotion as an about us to improve our positioning and to improve the index performance that we have communicated. We are number two now in the French market. The conviction we have is that we are capable to fuel this price positioning and this price investment through our cost savings. And the cost savings is 419 million euros for the group. And France has taken its fair share. And we will continue to do that while protecting at the same time our margin. but the elasticity of this investment is very positive and the transformation of this price position into a good volume dynamic in terms of volume is very strong. Concerning vision, your question is very relevant because it's a very important project for us and we are going per plan with first hypermarket equipped as of today. We have an objective this year of 50 hypermarkets with vision. We are now at 8 stores already being deployed with vision solution. Initial feedbacks from the stores are extremely positive. This is, of course, a very important productivity issue for us, but it is also a data driven model. That's great, thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. We will now take the next question. From the land of Sredar Mohamed Kali from UBS, please go ahead.

Hi, Alexandre, Matthieu, Seb. Thanks for taking my questions. Can I just go with three, please? First one, it seems to me, just backing up from what you're saying on France ex-Kora and the match, That Cora match losses were 75 million, clearly worse than I thought and certainly a lot of other colleagues of mine and clients are thinking. Can you explain that a bit more? And do you still think Cora and match achieves break even this year, given the slightly bigger loss than last year? Secondly, Argentina, can you give us a sense of losses here in the first half and what is the phasing? How should we think about Argentina's contribution on a full year basis? Third one, I think, Matthieu, you might have said it, I probably didn't hear very well, but are you saying you're comfortable with consensus expectations of just over 2.3 billion euros for the full year? Thank you.

Thank you, Shredar. On your CORA question, you're right. We are where we're expected to be with an improvement of 5 million compared to the report of the figure of H1 2025. That was minus 80, so it means that we are minus 75. This semester was balanced between the positive effect of the end of the one-off costs related to the integration and the negative effect of the alignment of the commercial equation to the one of Carrefour. What we have next, the impact of the rollout of the commercial model and the one-off integration cost will be behind us and we benefit from the continued improvement in sales and market share that you have seen in this quarter This quarter, 2.3 at the first quarter, 4.6 at the second quarter, so there's a clear acceleration in terms of like-for-like, in terms of debits, in terms of customer satisfaction, so the dynamic is very positive. So, we expect a material turnaround, Mathieu, to complete from where we see at the end of the year.

Yes, sure.

And Argentina, as you've seen, we have been suffering from two effects related to the macroeconomic situation. First is the decline of volume, which has been... The good news is that we have seen very quickly the first results. We are back in positive territory in terms of volume since the beginning of June. We gained market share. The relevancy of our commercial equation is now very strong. So we see H2 as an opportunity to improve the situation and the level of confidence we have is good.

And on your third question, Shredar, so indeed we confirm our guidance today and the recurring operating income guidance is very consistent with where the consensus is and very consistent in terms of full year growth with the growth that we deliver on our three countries in each one.

Sorry, Matthieu, just to follow up on what Alexandre said, Are you still expecting Quora and Mesh to achieve breakeven? Because that's clearly the big driver.

Again, very close to breakeven. We had these six stores that were divested. They were a little bit of profit, so we'll see. But clearly, the trend is very solid. I'm not going to say again what Alexandre said very clearly. And we have a number of negatives Thank you. We will now take the next question.

From the line of Monique Pollard from Citi, please go ahead.

Hi, afternoon everyone. Thank you for taking my questions. The first question I had was just on Poland. So obviously you've managed to slightly improve the ROI in the first half despite the negative like-for-likes. Obviously the like-for-likes also took a step down though in the two Qs. So just trying to understand if the like-for-likes continue to be And the second question I had was on Brazil. So you obviously slowed your non-food e-commerce to prioritize profitability, sort of similar to what you had talked about in the first quarter. Just trying to understand how your online profitability now is for non-food versus food in Brazil and whether there's still more FKU optimization that needs to be done on the non-food side. And then just on Argentina ROI, thank you for the comments you made earlier, but I guess what I'm trying to understand is What's the biggest driver there? Is the biggest driver of the improvement of the ROI from here just the return to volume growth? Or how material is that sort of cost of risk starting to stabilize for the financial services business as well?

Thank you. Thank you very much Monique. So first question on Poland. So clearly we're not satisfied with the like for like over there. The market is competitive. The market has been complex in Q2. But we are clearly below our objectives in terms of like for like. The good news is that As we did in H1, we have a cost savings initiative that can be implemented, including store closures that are loss-making. So we implemented some in H1 and we have further initiatives to come in the second half. Brazil. So non-food e-commerce was really a small business. Profitability was not good. It's clearly not strategic. Strategic for us is food e-commerce in Brazil where we have a very good pace. So we decided to scale down this activity and to preserve the profitability so it negatively impacts the like-for-like, but it's positive from a bottom-line perspective. I think we commented on that in the previous quarter, and we'll probably have the same statement in Q3 as we are scaling down this business. In Brazil, in Argentina, your third question. So first, there's really two dynamics. The first one is volumes that have been negative in H1, and Alexandre said, They are back to a positive in June. The beginning of July is very satisfactory, and we think that it relies on the new commercial approach, which is here to stay and to amplify. So we are confident in the retail volume dynamic in the second half, and that has negatively impacted the profitability in H1, so more confident in the second half. Then on the cost of risk, clearly we've had a weakening of the portfolio due to the consumption environment in Argentina. We implemented the necessary provisions as our rules require. We see no further degradation of the cost of risk of the portfolio in Argentina. This is to be monitored, but we think that we've taken the heat and we are not expecting anything significant in the second half.

Thank you. Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Isabel de Breva from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Hello, good evening.

I had a couple of questions. So going back to France, could you give us some sense of how the competitors are responding to your commercial actions and how you're seeing the environment more broadly? Because of course you are putting through quite substantial price investments into the market. So are you seeing any response at the moment? And if not, why do you think that is the case? And then I have a few technical questions. Could you help us understand the outlook for the financial expense line for the year given all of the self-help measures? And then just to come back on one of the comments which were made on the call that the full year guidance is very consistent with where consensus is. Could you just help us understand which consensus? So is that the 2.3 billion consensus for EBIT? Just because different providers have different numbers, so I wasn't sure which consensus number exactly you were referencing.

Thank you, Isabelle, for your question. We see the French market as behaving in a rational way. There are some competitors that are in difficulties, as you know. The three independents are well in the market. But when you analyze what has been happening in the last two years in the price competition, I think we can say without any doubts that the most significant point is the strong repositioning of Carrefour. We are number four, we are number two. We have a series of initiatives on everyday price, on promotion, on our club with 14 million of subscribers. We are very modest on that. We are not price leader at all and that's not our objective. We continue to have a lot of humility on that. But our conviction is that this price investment is working well. It triggers a good level of growth in terms of volume. We are gaining customers big time and so we will continue to do that. On the rest of the market, they are doing their job, of course, they are in the market, but we don't see any particular new initiatives in the French market except the Carrefour repositioning for the last two years.

Yes, on your second question relating to the financial expenses, it really unfolds as we had expected. We refinanced the debt in Brazil over the course of the second half last year. So we had a little bit of savings last year, I think in the magnitude of 20 million. This semester, H1, we have 80 million of improvement, and we anticipate further savings in H2. As the refinancing happened over the course of the second half last year, we expect we'll have a full semester effect in H2 and so can expect more savings there. So really unfolding as planned and then for 27 that will be behind us. On your third question relating to the consensus, we never point to a specific number, so I'm not going to do that tonight. The message is we confirm our guidance on all our financial guidance, including the one to increase our operating margin by 25 basis points.

Thank you. We will now take the next question. from the line of Geoffroy Michelet from Oddo Beer Chef. Please go ahead.

Yes, hi, thank you. I have three questions. First one on the other cost line. In H1, it was similar to H1-24. In H2, should we expect it to be similar in H2-24? First question. Second question, more generally speaking, do you expect the presidential election to have an impact on the behavior of customers in France? And the third and last question, on the strategic review, are you still open to investments?

Thank you. So on your first question on global functions, I think you have the good reading, Geoffroy. So we've had a specific in H1 last year. So this year is back to normal and so consistent with 2024. H1, which was a normal level, and we expect the same in H2 26, so global functions to be at the same level as what we had in H2 24.

On your question of the impact of the presidential campaign on the consumption, The vision we have since the beginning of the year, and we were not numerous to think exactly that, but that the level of resilience of the French customers is very strong. You've seen that we have not seen any material impact of the geopolitical crisis on the level of consumptions. Volumes are are positive, not big-time positive, but positive on very constant. And so we think that the French customers is now adapted to the climate of, I would say, different type of crisis, geopolitical climate and so on, and that the resilience is very strong on exactly what we see in the figures of this first semester. And my conviction is that it would be the same With both the political instability we have been facing for one year, as you know, we have been facing quite a high level of political instability with debate on budget, on fiscality, and so on. We have seen no impact of the consumption, sort of indifference of the French customers to the debate, and we don't think that the presidential campaign would have a different impact. Your third question is about where we are on the disposals. We are exactly at the same point on the 17th of February. We have three core countries where we concentrate the attention on the investments. and we have three countries where the priority and the focus is the improvement of the operations and the improvement of the operational excellence and the results. It's what we are doing in Poland, in Argentina with good effects in June and in Belgium and we are exactly there and we will continue to do that. Nothing has changed.

Okay, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of François Degas from Kepler-Sèvres. Please go ahead.

Good evening. Thank you to take my questions. The first is about your price positioning. You referred to number two position. Could you tell us across which formats this price position applies? Is it only hypermarket or across all formats? Second question is about your operating profit. So for the core countries, the result in H1 is above consensus expectations, but ROI in the non-core countries is weaker. Could you give us your view for the year on the contribution from these countries compared with last year? So really year on year for non-core countries. On the same question for non-recurring expenses, I understand the Carmilla base effect, but not the remaining expenses. Our recurring are these non-recurring expenses, if I can say so. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll just take the first and be very quick. The price positioning is related to our positioning on hypermarkets. Matthieu. Thank you.

Yes, so as far as the operating profit is concerned, so you're right, if you look at it by segment, we're exactly where consensus is except for the global functions where we have a 20 million euro gap due to the technical effect that I mentioned. which was probably not well anticipated by the street. But as far as the rest of the more operational perimeters including the other countries, we're really reaching the consensus for the first half. So what's the outlook for these and other countries for the second half. You understood, we think we have a strong commercial dynamic and operating dynamic in Belgium. We still have a reservoir of cost savings to potentially absorb further decline in sales in Poland. and I think as far as Argentina, I've answered in the previous question, better volume dynamic and more confidence on the financial services side. On the non-recurring expenses, so each year we have non-recurring expenses. which include some restructuring expenses. We have a number of restructuring plans happening in the group, some write-offs here or there, including some goodwill write-off at some point. So my comment was mainly to say that there's a gap versus last year. I think it's more last year which was unusual because we had a heavy number of real estate divestments where we had capital gain. So we had significant capital gain last year in H1. And we also had a capital gain on the divestment of the Carmilla stake which was also quite unusual. The rest, you have all the details in the financial statements, François. are the same topics as we have regularly.

Thank you.

Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Rob Joyce from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.

Thanks very much for taking my questions. I've got three. Just on the core and match losses, 75 million, I guess we're kind of running at nearly 200 million now across the last 18 months in terms of underlying losses. Was that really the plan? And what assurances can you give us that we're not going to be here in seven months' time talking about core and match losses again? That would be really helpful just to help us understand the trajectory there. The second one is just in terms of the price investments ongoing in France. Move from four to two. I think the people you've overtaken are still taking share. Do we need to do more price investments or how do we get the market share accelerating on the trajectory it needs to be on to reach that 2030 target? And then the third one, sorry it's a technical one, but just I think the finance costs are quite important to people in terms of the EPS bridge. The Brazilian tax credit adjustments you mentioned in 2025, were they included in underlying finance costs last year? And what are the 50 or so million costs I can see reversed out of the finance costs in 26 in the bridge to underlying? Thanks very much.

So, as we said on Coran and Match, we're really in line with our plan. When you mentioned 180 or 200 million euro of losses, that includes all the one-offs that we had last year. I think we've commented on them. I think the good news is that all the integration process is behind us. That includes the cost, the one-off cost, and also the cost of the new commercial model, which is the Carrefour commercial model, which is indeed much more commercially intense for customers, for their benefit, which has a cost in terms of P&L. The good news is that sales are accelerating, as we said. We have strong ambition for sales in the second half of the year because we know that historicals last year were perturbated by the implementation of this commercial model. No more one-offs and then this costly commercial model is lapping over the implementation last year. So now we have more volumes kicking into the model, and that's pretty much it. So now stores need to keep ramping up. We still have a significant gap in terms of sales per square meter versus comparable Carrefour stores. So we think that the good dynamic that we have can take us for some time. So on your third question, which was very technical, but I think what I got is that last year we won a case against the Brazilian tax authorities where we could recognize and monetize a monetary correction, so interest, basically, on some tax credits that we had vis-à-vis the tax authorities. And we crystallized these credits, and we crystallized the monetary adjustments. And so it was recorded, it was cashed in, and this year it is not happening again, so we are back to a more normal situation.

Thanks much. Yeah, on your question on price investment. So I think that's a point which is difficult to contest is the fact that the price investment, after we get off the last three years, a positive effect on the market share of Carrefour, particularly in volume, but also in value. So it's a constant effect and positive effect when you reposition carefully as we have done. You have elasticity in terms of volumes and you gain market share. It doesn't signify that it's possible to gain market share at every period because sometimes you have particular points. That was the case after the P5 in France and we gained market share from the P1 to P4. Under the P5, we have the effect of the sales of six hypermarkets. You know where we tell, so you measure what is the revenue of six hypermarkets. And so it has a negative impact around 14 bitpoints. So that was the case for P5 on P6. But the most important is that the dynamic is very positive. We have seen also the impact of the recent, the last wave of reinvestment as we get off an increase in market share in volume during the PCs. So it's a virtuous circle that we will continue. Thank you.

We will now take our last question. From the line of Xavier Lemen from Bank of America Securities, please go ahead.

Yes, thank you for taking my question. So I will try to be brief. The first one, can you comment a bit on non-food performance in France? And you stated that your strategic plan that you're going to change, you know, the way you offer non-food to be potentially more seasonal. So can you elaborate a bit more where you are with that plan, given the overall performance we've seen in France for non-food for the market? The second one, you were commenting the growth margin and the impact you've got with the mix with franchise. So arguably it's a negative on the growth margin, but it should be a positive on the operating profit. So any color you can provide here on the impact of franchising the store.

Yeah, I'll start. Hello, Xavier. Thank you for your questions. Well, that's the case. That's why we keep switching stores to the franchise model, because at the end of the day, it's positive on the bottom line. It changes, as you know, the role that we have, and so the structure of the P&L, we act more as a wholesaler when we have franchisees, so we have a much smaller gross margin but obviously most of the operating costs are transferred so it has a negative effect on the gross margin rate, it has a positive effect on the cost side and the net of all that is a positive so that's why we keep implementing it.

On the non-food, we continue to transform the model, taking a new strong initiative. We have developed parapharmacy with very good results. We are scaling that in the hypermarket. In the new category, we are very pleased with the pet food and all this new universe that we are developing. We are stronger and stronger on the sport territory, so we clearly see that there are new categories in which we take position. All in all, you've seen that the result is minus 2% this semester. You've probably seen the performance of a certain number of players in Nantfood with a huge level of difficulties. It means that we are gaining market share for the first time with this level of amplitude. I would say both in front of our competitors but also on a certain number of specialized retailers. It doesn't signify that we are where I wanted us to be. We still have a lot of room to be more performant and to regain a high level of commercial attractiveness but we are on the good road and I think that the future could be more positive on non-food because we have taken the good initiatives and we have the good vision about where we should be for our customers.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for this session. We wish you a happy holiday if you have time to and enjoy and talk to you in the next days and weeks. Thank you. Thank you so much.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.