Carrefour

French retailer Carrefour has announced sales for the first half of the year of €43.7bn, up 0.9 per cent on the year-earlier period.

This increase came in spite of a slight drop in second quarter sales, down 0.3 per cent to €21.7bn.

The first half rise has been attributed to growth in emerging markets where sales saw an increase of 5.3 per cent.

While the company continued to struggle in Europe due to the crisis, sales rose by 2.7 per cent in Latin America and by 14 per cent in Asia.

On the domestic market, sales fell by 2.1 per cent, but were helped by an improving performance in the food sector, including a significant improvement in sales of convenience products.