Casino Group: 2019 Full Year Results

2019 FULL YEAR RESULTS

Consolidated trading profit of €1,292m, up +5.5% at constant exchange rates

(excluding tax credits)

In France, Retail trading margin of 3.8% (+0.5pt vs. 2018)

Reduction in France net debt to €2.3bn

Acceleration of strategic repositioning of operations in France

In France

• Acceleration of strategic repositioning to focus on buoyant formats with the disposal of Leader Price, bringing the total proceeds from signed disposals under the disposal plan to €2.8bn
• Gross sales under banner up +1,9% on a same-store basis
• 24% of the activity done through E-commerce in Q4 2019 vs 18% in 2018
• Retail trading margin up +0.5pt to 3.8%, with trading profit up +12% to €622m¹
• Reduction in net debt to €2.3bn driven by the disposal plan, with recurring free cash flow (excluding
  
  the disposal and Rocade plans) of €367m² (€576m excluding non-recurring items)
• Major milestone achieved in retail business modernisation, with faster development of automated checkout systems (smartphone, self-service checkouts, autonomous stores) and growth in home delivery services (Ocado warehouse launched on a test basis on 18 March 2020)

In Latin America

• Simplified Group structure in Latin America, with all businesses placed under the umbrella of the GPA subsidiary
• Assaí’s excellent momentum confirmed, with sales up +22%³ and margin up +20bps³
• Success of Éxito’s new formats and a 20bps³ improvement in margin
• Digital transformation and strong growth in E-commerce, up nearly +40%³

In the context of the Covid-19 crisis, Casino Group is focusing on its core mission

of ensuring that all communities have uninterrupted food supplies

• The key priority is the implementation of necessary measures to protect the health of employees
  
  and clients at all workplaces and in all areas open to the public: distribution of face masks
  
  and hydro-alcoholic gels, installation of plexiglass screens at check-outs, respect of social distancing measures between clients, promotion of automatic payment solutions (up to 50% of payment flows
  
  in the hypermarkets in France)
• Like other food retailers⁴, the Group is faced with unprecedented demand, both in stores and for Drive or home delivery services. In France, demand in large cities is particularly high in the convenience stores and on E‑commerce sites. With a network of 7,200 stores and the Cdiscount E-commerce banner, the Group is ready to fulfil its mission
• A crisis management unit has been set up and is in continuous contact with suppliers and public authorities to ensure supply chain continuity and to secure operations in the stores
  
  and E-commerce fulfilment centres
• Initiatives to help the most vulnerable populations have been launched (shopping hours reserved
  
  for over 65s and care-givers, ready-to-deliver baskets, telephone orders, expanded Cdiscount food offering)

2019 Key figures

The Board of Directors met on 24 March 2020 to approve the statutory and consolidated financial statements for 2019.

The 2018 and 2019 financial statements are presented in accordance with IFRS 16 – Leases, the Group having elected to apply the “full retrospective” transition method. Via Varejo, which was sold on 14 June 2019, is presented as a discontinued operation in 2018 and from January 1^st to June 30 2019, in accordance with IFRS 5. In light of the decision made in 2019 to divest Leader Price, this business is presented as a discontinued operation in 2019, in accordance with IFRS 5. The 2018 financial statements have been restated to permit meaningful comparisons with 2019. The auditors have completed their audit procedures on the financial statements and are in the process of issuing their report.

During the year, the Group continued its development in France focused

on its strategic priorities and on buoyant formats.

Premium and convenience formats

• The sale of Leader Price represents a key milestone in the Group’s strategy of repositioning
  
  its operations to focus on buoyant formats.
• Relaunch of expansion in convenience (including premium) with 213 stores opened.
• Launch of commercial synergies between Monoprix and Franprix.
• Net sales in the organic segment increased sharply to €1.1bn, driven by the general banners, which recorded growth in sales of +11% (share of organic sales of +14% at Monoprix), and by the expansion
  
  of Naturalia.

E-commerce and digital solutions

• 24% of the activity done through E-commerce in Q4 2019 vs. 18% in 2018.
• The Group extended its leadership in non-food E-commerce via Cdiscount, which recorded GMV
  
  of nearly €4bn⁶ in 2019. The +9.1%¹ organic increase of GMV was driven by continued expansion
  
  of the marketplace, which accounted for 38.1%¹ of GMV, and by B2C services.
• The Group continued to develop the food E-commerce⁷ segment, up +11% to €353m, led by the successful partnership with Amazon. Food E-commerce has been accelerating strongly over the last few weeks. The Ocado warehouse has been operating on a test basis since 18 March 2020.
• The Group has over 300 autonomous stores at end-2019 generating a 0.8% Q4 increase in customer traffic in France, including 2.3% growth in supermarket traffic. Openings are facilitated by the CasinoMax app whose penetration is strong with 20% of sales generated by users in the last two months of the year⁸. The new "CasinoMax Extra" subscription loyalty program reserved for users of the application has 80,000 subscribers at the end of 2019. In addition, 45%⁹ of payments in hypermarkets and 36%⁴ in supermarkets are now made by smartphone or automatic check-out corresponding to a profound evolution of the model particularly adapted in the current period.

In Latin America, very good performance in the Cash & Carry segment

and refurbished formats; sharp acceleration in E-commerce.

In Latin America, GPA’s performance was driven by the Cash & Carry business (Assaí), which recorded organic growth of +22%¹, and by the refurbished and convenience formats. E‑commerce sales

were up +40%¹. In Colombia, the Éxito Wow, Carulla Fresh Market and Surtimayorista formats met

with resounding success. Growth in the E-commerce business came to +37%¹.

The Group has sped up development of its new B2B businesses, which serve

as additional growth levers.

GreenYellow 

In 2019, GreenYellow accelerated the development of its photovoltaic business, resulting in a threefold increase in its pipeline to 451MWp at end-2019 and EBITDA of €76m.

GreenYellow has made strong international expansion (in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Indian Ocean region) and has continued to diversify its customer portfolio alongside public authorities and manufacturers (such as Schneider Electric and STMicroElectronics). The subsidiary has forged major strategic partnerships: Reservoir Sun which is now the key player in solar self-consumption in France (over 100MWp secured in one year), and Allego which intends to deploy France’s largest network of ultra-fast electric vehicle charging stations.

Data and Data Centers 

The Data and Data Centers division generated €67m in sales, up +51% from 2018.

In the Data business, the two Casino Group’s entities, 3W.relevanC and Maxit, are being combined to form relevanC, a key player in digital marketing. relevanC will provide brands and retailers with customer acquisition and retention solutions, based on targeting strategies and impact measurement, via two divisions:

• relevanC advertising (formerly 3w.relevanC): media and marketing solutions, enhanced by transactional data, insights and measurement, to meet all the multi-channel marketing challenges related to target shoppers, and;
• relevanC retail tech (formerly Maxit): technological solutions enabling retailers to optimise
  
  the performance of their marketing campaigns by using their data to personalise the customer relationship.

In the Data Centers business, ScaleMax has diversified its portfolio of external customers (notably including BNP Paribas, Natixis and Mac Guff) and deployed 20,000 cores in one year.

The Group also sped up the execution of key strategic and financial plans, resulting in a reinforced financial structure.

The Group recorded €2.8bn in non-strategic assets sold since June 2018, of which €1.8m in proceeds

had been collected by end-2019. Disposals that are signed but not yet collected represent an amount of €1bn, that will help the Group to reimburse or buyback the bonds maturing in 2021-2022 (with a total of €1.1bn

in bonds to be redeemed after the refinancing operation).

The sale of Leader Price¹⁰ completes the Rocade plan initiated at the end of 2018. The Group has

sold 17 integrated hypermarkets and 14 integrated supermarkets, and closed 4 loss-making integrated supermarkets. Excluding Leader Price, the impact on sales is -€500m on a full year basis, partly offset by the rallying of franchisees with a gross sales under banner of nearly €300m. The full year impact of the Rocade plan on trading profit is a positive €50m (a positive €18m in 2019).

As announced in Q4 2019, the Group has finalised its refinancing plan in France and completed

the reorganisation of its operations in Latin America under Brazilian subsidiary GPA, which has been listed on the Novo Mercado since 2 March 2020.

2019 Full Year Results

In 2019, Group consolidated net sales amounted to €34.6bn, up +4.2% on an organic basis¹¹ and up +0.9% after taking into account the effects of exchange rates and hyperinflation of -1.9% and the effect of changes

in scope of -0.8%.

In France, sales were up +0.3% on a same-store basis. Including Cdiscount, gross sales under banner

in France were up +1.9% on a same-store basis.

E-commerce (Cdiscount) gross merchandise volume (“GMV”) came to €4bn, a year-on-year increase

of +9.1%¹² on an organic basis, led by the expansion of the marketplace.

Sales in Latin America were up sharply by +9.7% on an organic basis¹, mainly supported by the very good performance in the Cash & Carry segment (Assaí), which recorded organic growth of +22%².

Consolidated trading profit came to €1,292m, a change of -5.3% including the impact of currency effects and a change of -3.1% at constant exchange rates. Excluding tax credits in Brazil, consolidated trading profit was up +3.2% in total and +5.5% at constant exchange rates.

In France, EBITDA margin improved by +57bps to 9.0% of sales. Retail trading profit came to €622m,

up +11.6%, i.e. a retail trading margin of 3.8%. Pre-IFRS 16 retail trading profit improved by +4.9%

to €517m. The effects of the Rocade plan and the cost-saving plans more than offset the €68m increase

in rental expenses related to the disposals of store properties.

E-commerce (Cdiscount) EBITDA amounted to €69m, an increase of +€30m driven primarily by the marketplace and increased monetisation revenue in both B2B and B2C services. EBITDA margin improved by +153bps to reach 3.5% of net sales.

In Latin America, the trading profit excluding tax credits amounted to €612m, almost stable excluding exchange rate effects (-1,0% at constant exchange rates). In Brazil, Assaí’s trading margin excluding tax credits improved and Multivarejo was impacted by investments in promotional campaigns. Éxito’s trading margin increased driven by the success of new concepts and E-commerce. Latin America trading profit including tax credits and exchange rate effects was down -19.3% due to the absence of tax credits in 2019

and a currency effect of nearly -4%.

Underlying net financial expense and net profit, Group share¹³

Underlying net financial expense for the period came to -€716m (-€448m excl. interest expense on lease liabilities) vs. -€629m in 2018 (-€411m excl. interest expense on lease liabilities). In France, the underlying net financial expense excluding interest expense on lease liabilities is stable. The underlying net financial expense in E-commerce is stable vs. 2018. In Latin America, net financial expense increased in line

with the financing of GPA in the context of the takeover bid on Éxito.

Underlying net profit from continuing operations, Group share totalled €212m, compared with €327m

in 2018 mainly due to a decrease in trading profit in Brazil related to the absence of tax credits and a change in tax expense in France due to lower activations of tax loss carryforwards than in 2018 (notably Cdiscount) and the transformation of the CICE into an taxable social expense.

Diluted underlying earnings per share¹⁴ stood at €1.62, vs. €2.57 in 2018.

Consolidated net profit (loss), Group share

Profit (loss) from continuing operations, Group share came out at -€384m, compared with -€60m

in 2018, reflecting an increase in non-recurring non-cash costs relating to the disposal plan.

Profit (loss) from discontinued operations, Group share came out at -€1,048m, compared with -€57m

in 2018, mainly due to goodwill impairment.

Consolidated net profit (loss), Group share amounted to -€1,432m, vs. -€117m in 2018.

Financial position at 31 December 2019

Consolidated cash flow from continuing operations came to €2,172m vs. €2,414m in 2018.

Casino Group consolidated net debt stood at €4.1bn at 31 December 2019 vs. €3.4bn at 31 December 2018. The increase in consolidated net debt reflects the net impact of the reorganisation in Latin America (repurchase of Éxito's share in GPA by Casino, GPA's takeover bid for Éxito), while France net debt decreased to €2.3bn (vs. €2.7bn at end-2018) and E-commerce debt was close to stable.

At 31 December 2019, Casino in France¹⁵ had €4.0bn in liquidity, composed of a gross cash position

of €1.7bn and confirmed undrawn lines of credit of €2.3bn. The Group also had €193m in an escrow account for the repayment of the bond that matured early March 2020.

2020 outlook

The Casino Group is fully committed to secure the supply of populations, while ensuring the protection

of employees and clients.

The Group’s strengths (convenience, E-commerce, automatic payment solutions) are being deployed

to meet customers’ needs in the safest possible manner. 

The Group will pursue the accelerated adaptation of its operating processes and the development of new offers responding to the current unprecedented situation.

Consolidated net sales by segment

Consolidated EBITDA by segment

Consolidated trading profit by segment

Change in net debt by entity

Group net debt – 2019

France net debt – 2019

2019 Results²¹

Underlying net profit

Underlying net profit corresponds to net profit from continuing operations, adjusted for (i) the impact of other operating income and expenses, as defined in the "Significant accounting policies" section in the notes to the consolidated financial statements, (ii) the impact of non-recurring financial items, as well as (iii) income tax expense/benefits related to these adjustments and (iv) the implementation of IFRIC 23.

Non-recurring financial items include fair value adjustments to equity derivative instruments (such as total return swaps and forward instruments related to GPA shares) and the effects of discounting Brazilian tax liabilities.

Simplified balance sheet – 2019

ANALYST AND INVESTOR CONTACTS

Régine GAGGIOLI – +33 (0)1 53 65 64 17

or

+33 (0)1 53 65 24 17

PRESS CONTACTS

Casino Group – Communications Department

Stéphanie ABADIE – – +33 (0)6 26 27 37 05

or

+33 (0)1 53 65 24 78 –

Agence IMAGE 7

Karine ALLOUIS – +33 (0)6 11 59 23 26 –

Flore LARGER – +33(0)6 33 13 41 50 -

Disclaimer

This press release was prepared solely for information purposes, and should not be construed as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell securities or related financial instruments. Likewise, it does not provide and should not be treated

as providing investment advice. It has no connection with the specific investment objectives, financial situation or needs of any receiver. No representation or warranty, either express or implied, is provided in relation to the accuracy, completeness or reliability of the information contained herein. Recipients should not consider it as a substitute

for the exercise of their own judgement. All the opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

¹ Post-IFRS 16. Pre-IFRS 16, France retail trading profit was up +5% and retail trading margin up +0.2 pt.

² Free cash flow excluding the disposal plan and the Rocade plan, before dividends paid to owners of the parent and holders of TSSDI deeply-subordinated bonds, excluding financial expenses, including rental expense (repayments of lease liabilities and interest on leases). Pre-IFRS 16: €380m.

³ Data published by the subsidiary

⁴ Source: Nielsen

Note: The 2018 and 2019 financial statements are presented in accordance with IFRS 16 – Leases, the Group having elected to apply the “full retrospective” transition method. In addition, the 2018 financial statements have been restated to exclude Leader Price, which has been classified

as a discontinued operation, in accordance with IFRS 5.

⁵ Change in net sales presented on an organic basis

^{6 Data published by the subsidiary}

^{7 F}ood ^{E-commerce = France E-commerce excluding Cdiscount}

^{8 Data for the 2 last months of 2019}

^{9 Data for February and March 2020}

¹⁰ For an enterprise value of €735m, including a €35m earn-out contingent on the achievement of certain operating indicators during the transition period.

¹¹ Excluding fuel and calendar effects                                                                                                    

¹² Data published by the subsidiary

¹³ See definition on page 12.

¹⁴ Underlying diluted EPS includes the dilutive effect of TSSDI deeply-subordinated bond distributions. 

¹⁵ Casino Group's holding structure, including the French activities and wholly-owned holding companies

¹⁶ Organic change excluding calendar and fuel effects

¹⁷ Before dividends paid to the owners of the parent and holders of TSSDI deeply-subordinated bonds, and before financial expenses

¹⁸ Before dividends paid to owners of the parent and holders of TSSDI deeply-subordinated bonds, excluding financial expenses, including rental expense (repayments of lease liabilities and interest on leases)

¹⁹ Mainly including -€193m paid into an escrow account dedicated to the repayment of the March 2020 bond maturity (neutral impact on net debt

with a compensation in "other non-cash items") and - €109m paid to unwind the GPA forward contract

²⁰ Mainly including the current account with Leader Price and the escrow account dedicated to the repayment of the March 2020 bond maturity

²¹ The 2018 and 2019 financial statements are presented in accordance with IFRS 16 – Leases, the Group having elected to apply the “full retrospective” transition method. Via Varejo, which was sold on 14 June 2019, is presented as a discontinued operation in 2018 and from January 1^st to June 30 2019, in accordance with IFRS 5. In light of the decision made in 2019 to divest Leader Price, this business is presented as a discontinued operation in 2019, in accordance with IFRS 5. The 2018 financial statements have been restated to permit meaningful comparisons with 2019.

²² Other financial income and expenses have been restated, primarily for the impact of discounting tax liabilities, as well as for changes in the fair value of the total return swaps on GPA shares and the GPA forward

²³ Income taxes have been restated for tax effects corresponding to the above restated financial items and the tax effects of the restatements

²⁴ Non-controlling interests have been restated for the amounts relating to the restated items listed above.

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