Carrefour profits plunge 40% to 129 mn euros

French supermarket group Carrefour said Thursday its half-year net profit tumbled due to one-off items and as low fuel prices and currency rates ate away at sales. It said net profits for the period were 129 million euros ($143 million), down 40.8 percent and just below analysts' forecasts. Excluding exceptional items linked to restructuring costs, profits were up slightly at 235 million euros. Second-quarter sales slid 4.1 percent to 20.5 billion euros, also slightly lower than analysts' forecasts. The retailer said that adverse exchange rate fluctuations had a six percentage point impact on sales and operating earnings in the first half of the year, while low fuel prices had a 1 percent impact. The retailer operates filling stations at its shops in numerous countries. In the second quarter, sales rose by 2.6 percent when stripped of currency changes and number of stores. That was lower than the 3.8 percent organic growth in sales in the first quarter of the year, however. The retailer described the sales as resilient given the "more difficult consumption environment, notably marked by unfavourable weather conditions" in France and Europe. It noted very strong growth in emerging markets, in particular in Latin America and Taiwan. Chief financial officer Pierre-Jean Sivignon said "we've seen a steady improvement in China compared with 2015" and said the annual operating profit of 2.47 billion euros currently forecast by analysts was reasonable.