French retail giant Carrefour is said to be considering the sale of its discount business as part of a strategic review being carried out by banking organisation BNP Paribas, although it has officially denied the story.
According to a report published in the French magazine Challenges, the group has instructed the bank to perform a strategic audit of its discount business worldwide and has been told to look closely at the sustainability of such a store format within the Carrefour group as a whole.
'There are no taboo topics with us,' a leading member of the Carrefour executive board was quoted as saying, implying that a sale could be possible.
However, Ricardo Curras, Dia's executive director, dismissed the reports, adding that sales were expected to rise 0.5 per cent this year and that Dia was due to open 400 stores in 2011 as well as expanding in Europe and Latin America.
A programme to convert Carrefour's Ed stores in France to the Dia format is also ongoing, mirroring a similar process already rolled out in Spain.
The option of divesting the Dia banner is something Carrefour has considered in the past, however, most recently in 2007 when former CEO José Luis Duran proposed the idea.
'Dia’s banner director Javier Campo was also in favour of a sale at the time, but the idea was not taken further after (Lars) Olofsson succeeded Duran in January 2009 and disagreed with it,' commented Magali Dubreil of leading analyst Planet Retail.
Last year, Mr Olofsson drew a line temporarily under the story: 'My priority is to get Dia on track. It is rather nice to have a nugget in the portfolio.'
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