Casino, France's third largest grocery retailer, reports that third quarter net sales rose by 12.7 per cent co mpared with the same period a year earlier.  The group attributes this to sustained organic growth of 7.3 per cent and the full consolidation of Super de Boer in the Netherlands.

The retailer turned in a very good performance in France where it has a favourable mix of formats, which is becoming heavily weighted towards convenience and discount banners. These, as well as private labels and value-line products, led organic sales growth of 5.3 per cent. Sales growth at Franprix-Leader Price accelerated to 12.1 per cent, while convenience store sales rose 5.7 per cent. Fifteen Franprix stores and ten Leader Price stores opened during the quarter and the accelerated pace of expansion will be maintained in the last three months of the year with 39 Franprix stores and 26 Leader Price stores scheduled to open.

Casino supermarkets achieved 8.6 per cent growth and a further 0.1-point gain in market share.
In international markets organic growth remained robust at 11.9 per cent reflecting gains of 11.6 per cent in South America and 16.5 per cent in Asia underpinned by strong same-store growth. The group has a platform of international assets concentrated in what it believes to be the high potential markets of Brazil, Colombia, Thailand.

Casino says it is benefiting as well from the effectiveness of its differentiation levers, such as the development of private labels and increasingly personalised marketing and that it will accelerate the expansion of its cash efficient formats.

Related stories
Casino to roll out in India
Casino tries to prevent bidding war for Super De Boer
Géant opens hypermarkets in Kuwait