Groupe Casino Boosts Trading-Profit Guidance

Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA (CO.FR) on Thursday reported a sharp rise in headline trading profit for the first half and raised full-year guidance after a strong performance from its retail units.

The French retailer said it now expects headline trading profit--its preferred performance metric, which is operating profit before central costs--to rise at least 20% over the year based on June 30 closing exchange rates. This compares with previous guidance of 10%.

Casino said its France retail segment boosted first-half performance, with improved results at its Casino Supermarkets, Geant and Leader Price units.

The company's trading profit for the six months ended June 30 was 466 million euros ($546.5 million), up from EUR281 million a year earlier, while sales rose 9.7% to EUR18.6 billion.

Casino booked a net loss of EUR86 million in the period compared with a profit of EUR2.58 billion a year earlier, when it took in EUR2.71 billion through the sale of appliance chain Via Varejo SA (VVAR3.BR).

Write to Marc Bisbal Arias at marc.bisbalarias@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 10, 2017 05:48 ET (09:48 GMT)