French retailer Carrefour on Thursday denied a media report it had mandated three banks to sell its businesses in China, Argentina and Poland as part of its turnaround plan.
“These information are false and we are denying them,” a group spokesman said, when asked about a report by French monthly magazine Capital.
Chief Executive Alexandre Bompard took the helm at Carrefour, the world’s second-largest retailer behind Wal-Mart , in July and on January 23 he will unveil his turnaround plan for the company, which issued a profit warning in August.
A partnership between French rival retailer Auchan and Internet giant Alibaba risks pushing Carrefour further behind in China and could persuade its new boss to sell out of the country, where it is still loss-making, analysts have said.
Investors also want Bompard to improve the group’s business in its core French market, where it is losing market share to unlisted rival Leclerc, and to speed up its expansion into E-commerce where it faces competition from Amazon.
The latest figures from research firm Kantar, for the period from October 30-November 26, showed Carrefour still losing market share in France, while Leclerc’s market share went up.

Source:Arabnews