Casino, Guichard-Perrachon S.A. (CO) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Welcome to the First Quarter 2023 Sales Conference Call. I'll now hand over to Mr. David Lubek, Chief Financial Officer of Casino Group.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for attending our quarterly sales conference call. Before going into the details of our release, a few words of introduction regarding our Q1 performance. In France, food retail sales trends are close to flat in like-for-like in Q1, like they were in Q4 and with the same differentiation between banners. The banners that performed well in Q4 accelerated in Q1, Monoprix, Franprix and Casino Proximity, had a combined like-for-like of plus 4.6% compared to plus 2.8% in Q4. The expansion plan in Proximity also showed good progress with around 200 stores opened, mainly in their franchise, which confirms the relevance of our strategy on this front. On the other hand, Casino Hyper and Supermarkets witnessed once again a sharp decrease in their sales, are respectively, minus 12.4% and minus 7.8%. The management of these banners has been changed since March and the full repositioning of their pricing strategy is underway with the aim of stopping market share loss and getting back progressively into positive territory. First, in client traffic, which is already the case in the first batch of stores that have been repositioned, then volume and sales trends. I will get back to this in more detail as it is a clear priority of our operational management. As for Cdiscount, despite sales being still down significantly year-on-year as expected, this quarter showed clear signs of recovery with positive marketplace revenues growth, a 57% share of Marketplace in GMV and an increase in EBITDA and cash flows due to the improvement of the business mix, cost savings plans and inventory reduction. Overall, EBITDA in France, excluding GreenYellow and property development activity reflects the impacts of these various trends with a drop of minus EUR 54 million year-on-year over the quarter due to the negative performance of Hyper and Supermarkets partly offset by growth in the other banners and Cdiscount. As for net debt in France, it stands at EUR 4.5 billion, same level as end of 2022, with the usual negative seasonal effect in cash flows during Q1, offset by the disposal of 19% of our stake in Assai. In Latin America, where we have stopped consolidating Assai following this latest disposal, sales were up 9.5% in like-for-like with a good performance of Grupo Exito and positive trends at GPA Brazil. The spin-off of Exito received the approval by GPA General Assembly and is proceeding as planned. The process is now undergoing the relevant market authorities review with an expected listing by the end of June in the U.S., Colombia and Brazil. Casino will hold a direct stake of 34% in the spin-off entity. This separation should generate new possibilities regarding LatAm asset monetization. Going now into the details of our quarterly numbers. At group level, sales were up 1% on a like-for-like basis. Total sales were down minus 1.8%, including a negative ForEx effect of minus 2.1%. Let's start with France and with our food retail business. Again, this quarter, we saw 2 very different dynamics in sales, continued growth at Monoprix, Franprix and Casino Proximity on the one hand, while Casino Supermarkets and Hypermarkets had a sharp decrease in sales with a major price repositioning plan underway. First, a few details on the performance of the provision and Proximity banners. Growth accelerated in Q1 compared to Q4, particularly at Monoprix with plus 4.2% like-for-like compared to plus 1.8% in Q4. This performance is linked to the good sales dynamics in the stores with Monoprix City up plus 5.2% and Monop'Hop plus 10%, driven by equivalent strong growth in client flow. Also of note is the improving performance at Naturalia, which suffered last year from the tough market in organic food and has shown clear signs of recovery since March. Franprix like-for-like sales were up 6% after 5.5% in Q4. Again, client flow was a key driver with traffic at plus 4%. Total GMV, which includes the sales to consumers through franchise and integrated stores was up 7.4% during the quarter. Furthermore, 30 new stores were opened during the quarter, in line with the objectives of the expansion plan. As for Casino Proximity, like-for-like sales were up 4.9% after 4.4% in Q4. 158 new stores joined our network during the quarter in keeping with our dynamic expansion plan based on the strength of our logistics and the relevance of our commercial proposition. In total, the 198 stores opened in Proximity formats during the quarter should deliver an estimated EUR 75 million of GMV on a full year basis. Now getting to the second part of the business. Casino Hyper and Supermarkets. This format has delivered a satisfactory performance during the first 9 months of 2022 with a high-low pricing strategy working relatively well in the inflationary environment. In Q4, we saw significant reversal with a loss of customer flow and volume due to the delayed impact of higher permanent prices and customer perception. Recent performance has been clearly unsatisfactory with like-for-like sales down minus 10% in Q1 after a decrease of minus 5% in Q4. New management is now in place, and the new commercial strategy has been deployed in order to reposition the store at competitive permanent prices with a reduction in self-financed promotions. This is an ongoing process by which the new pricing strategy is tested and then deployed in batches of stores with a relevant local communication adapted and deployed at the same time. As for any price repositioning, we expect the effects of this new strategy to be sequential with customer traffic recovering first, then volumes and finally, sales. As of today, the first batch of stores where this strategy was implemented, the historical supermarkets have returned to stable customer traffic compared to the same period in 2022, while they were still negative, minus 7.3% in March. The continued monitoring and careful implementation of this new strategy in the coming months is a key priority of the new management of Hyper and Supermarkets. Now a few words about Cdiscount. The strategy of Cdiscount has been confirmed in Q1 with the adaptation of its business model to the new post-COVID environment and the sharp reduction in its nonprofitable direct sales business. The business mix has continued to improve with Marketplace GMV reaching 57% of total GMV, plus 9 points compared to 2022 and plus 21 points compared to pre-COVID numbers. This improvement has translated into a gross margin increase of 6 points. B2B activities have also shown good progress. First, with the commercial development of Octopia up 42% year-on-year with 2 new marketplaces launched during the quarter. And secondly, C-Logistics, multiplying its B2B revenue sixfold year-on-year. Finally, a cost-saving plan designed to adapt operational cost and CapEx to the new level of direct sales is clearly on track to ensure a EUR 75 million full year impact. With this improvement in the mix and the positive impact of cost cutting, Cdiscount has managed to turn around its EBITDA trend in Q1 with a positive variation year-on-year for the first time since the beginning of 2021. Cash flows have also improved, thanks to the reduction in inventory initiated last year. Before moving to Latin America, a few words on financial indicators in France at the end of Q1. As mentioned in my introduction, the net impact of the good performance in Proximity banners and Cdiscount and of the sharp sales drop in Hyper and Supermarkets was in a decrease of minus EUR 54 million in reported EBITDA at the France perimeter, excluding [ rent ] and noncash property profits. The last 12 months pre-leased IFRS 16 EBITDA thus reached EUR 1.215 billion at the end of March and last 12 months EBITDA after [ rents ] reached EUR 619 million. As for net cash flows, they have moved according to the usual Q1 seasonality with a quarterly cash outflow of minus EUR 673 million at the end of March. Compared to last year, the variation was of the same magnitude with lower EBITDA offset by improvement in working capital variation. With the impact of this quarterly performance and the disposal of part of our stake in Assai for a gross intake of EUR 723 million, net debt in France at the end of March was stable compared to the end of December. Over the last 12 months, net debt in France has decreased by EUR 743 million, with the impact of the disposals, partially offset by cash consumption in the same period. As mentioned at the beginning of the year, we remain committed to the finalization of our EUR 4.5 billion disposal plan in France, of which EUR 4.2 billion has been cashed in. During Q1, we have realized EUR 0.1 billion revenue disposals, including the sale of part of our remaining stake in GreenYellow for EUR 15 million, the sale of our property management subsidiary, [ Silico ] and some real estate disposals. As for our liquidity position, it stands at EUR 2.3 billion in France at March 31. This includes EUR 286 million of cash and EUR 2.05 billion of undrawn RCF, fully available to meet intra-quarter cash flow swings in the absence of access to the commercial paper market. During Q1, the maximum drawing of the RCF related to these swings was EUR 1.950 billion before the cash in of our Assai disposal. Also of note during the quarter was the successful buyback of EUR 100 million of Casino's senior secured debt reducing the outstanding amount to EUR 554 million. With these numbers, our RCF covenants are met at the end of Q1, with a margin of EUR 211 million in secured debt on our secured debt over EBITDA ratio and a margin of EUR 109 million in EBITDA on our EBITDA of a net financial cost ratio. Now a few words about Latin America. GPA and Exito results are published separately, so I will concentrate on the main takeaways. LatAm sales showed a good dynamic. Overall, with 11.4% organic growth and 9.5% like-for-like driven by Grupo Exito. Grupo Exito grew 11.8% with satisfactory trends in all 3 countries. Omnichannel and innovative formats such as Exito Wow and Carulla Fresh led once again. Of note, it is the high penetration of omnichannel at 9.1% in total and 12.3% in Colombia as well as the strong showing of Uruguay with 12.8% like-for-like, with a strong performance in Fresh products. GPA Brazil, which was in turnaround mode last year after the disposal of its Hypermarkets delivered 6.3% like-for-like growth during the quarter. Proximity stores led again with 12.4%, while Premium [indiscernible] showed a sequential improvement at 7.5% in Q1 with a higher penetration rate of Fresh products. Before moving to the Q&A, one final comment. We published 2 press releases on the 24th of April, a summary of which is provided in the press release published this morning. The first press release included an update on the extended negotiations with TERACT which now includes the Groupement Les Mousquetaires and which are still ongoing. The second press release details the content of an indicated offer for a capital increase submitted to the Board of Casino by EP Global Commerce with various conditions attached. This proposition is currently being analyzed by the Group. In the context of this announcement and in order to have a secure framework for discussions, the Group wishes to review the possibility of requesting the appointment of conciliators and has sought the consent of some of its bank creditors and bondholders for this purpose. We will keep the market informed as appropriate of the progress of discussions related to TERACT, the Les Mousquetaires Group and if necessary, the proposal of EP Global Commerce. In the meantime, no further comments will be made on the content of these press releases given the ongoing discussions and processes. Thank you for your attention and are ready to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from Karine Elias of Barclays.

David, I just had a quick question. You mentioned the EUR 80 million bond buyback in the quarter. Does that include the 2023 notes. Has there been any other purchases other than the ones that you've published on in February.

Yes. We mentioned in the press release, Page 11 that we did some unsecured bond buyback on bonds that have not been canceled yet. When we cancel bonds, we give all the details, but we don't have to cancel the bonds until we reach 10% of the nominal amount of the bond. So we bought some other unsecured debt, and we disclosed the number in the press release. The number was EUR 83 million, EUR 10 million was canceled and was communicated of 26 bonds. 73 were not canceled yet. And the total gain made on the buybacks in the first quarter -- in the first quarter was EUR 39 million on our financial costs.

The next question is from Clement Genelot of Bryan Garnier.

Just 2 questions on my side, if I may. So the first one is about the price cuts. Would you quantify your impact of these price cuts at both Hypermarkets -- at this Hypermarkets, please? And then just regarding the conciliation process, have you already entered into this kind of process? And don't you fear that it would accelerate the safeguards at the Casino Group level.

The first question was about price cuts, right?

Right, yes. Price cuts.

Yes, price cuts, as mentioned in the release, the price cuts were -- depending on the store, all the Hyper and Supermarket stores were concerned, and it was about 5% to 10% price cut, a real price cut. At the same time, the rest of the market continued to increase price in terms of index repositioning, the impact is higher than that. At the same time, we cut the promotions or the -- a lot of the self-finance promotions that we had in the stores. We were quite different from the market in terms of pricing strategy. We had a high low pricing strategy with higher permanent prices and a lot of different self-finance promotions. Now we're moving to something closer to the rest of the market. So the goal is to finance the price cuts in terms of margin rates by reducing the number of operations, which should make the commercial policy easier to read by the customer. So that's basically the strategy. And the first impact as felt today in client flow in Supermarkets, and we are monitoring that. The goal is to have client flow getting positive in all the banners, not only the Super but also the Hyper and then to get volumes and sales. On the potential conciliation process, we have no further comments than the ones that we have made in the press release. It's just that the group wishes to examine the possibility of appointing conciliators. And to that effect, we have asked for a consent, nothing more at this stage.

Okay.

Okay. I think questions from analysts have been -- I'll finish now. So floor will be closed.

Mr. Lubek, there are no more questions registered at this time.

Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Have a good day.