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Bloomberg
Carrefour SA may circumvent Brazil’s bankers in favour of mom-and-pop investors when it returns to markets next year.
The grocer’s Brazilian unit, Atacadao Distribuicao Comercio e Industria Ltda, is considering issuing local bonds
for retail investors as it explores alternatives to a “concentrated banking system†and the high fees the banks charge, Chief Financial Officer Sebastien Durchon said in an interview at Bloomberg’s Sao Paulo office.
The firm has no debt maturing this year after it issued 1.5 billion reais ($400 million) in local bonds and its bank unit issued 700 million reais in bank bonds, Durchon said. Carrefour Brazil cut its debt in half, and reduced financial costs by 74 percent since its initial public equity offering last year.
“Our strategic policy was to make a big refinancing in the beginning of the year, taking advantage of the low interest rates, to avoid the volatility in the second half,†Durchon said.
The company went public on July 19, 2017, and shares are down about 15 percent since peaking September 21. Revenue from sales at supermarkets and hypermarkets rose 1.5 percent in the 12 months through June, about one-quarter the level from a year earlier, according to the national statistics institute. Still, Carrefour is optimistic.
“Our results in Brazil are good, we have cash, and a good growth pace,†Chief Executive Officer Noel Frederic Georges Prioux said in the same interview.
Carrefour net sales are up 5.3 percent in the first six months of the year, indicating the group gained market share. It controls about
15 percent of the total Brazil grocery market, he said. The Brazilian unit already represents more than half of the group’s operational results and hasn’t suffered a cut in investments as part of the holding’s initiative to control costs worldwide, Prioux said.