French supermarket group Casino has sold 119 stores to competitor Intermarché in a bid to tackle its financial problems.
Casino CEO Jean-Charles Naouri made the decision at the end of May after the group confirmed debts of more than €6billion.
He said an agreement was reached with Intermarché parent group, le Groupement des Mousquetaires in a bid to address the financial shortfall.
57 stores to change by the end of the year
A total of 57 Casino stores are set to be rebranded as Intermarché by the end of the year, and 62 others will be changed within the next three years. A third sale could also be possible after this.
In a press release, Casino said the sale concerns “a group of sales outlets from the Casino France perimeter (hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores)”.
Stores branded as Franprix and Monoprix will not be affected.
Read more: Intermarché set to buy more than 100 stores of French rival Casino
‘Fall of an empire’
Workers’ union CGT has denounced the move as “a social break up”, and said it had “predicted carnage…and here we are”.
In a press release, the CGT said that the working conditions of Casino staff are being “sacrificed”.
“The major strategic errors made by [CEO] Jean-Charles Naouri and Casino's operational staff, the reduction in staff numbers, the lack of positioning, the absence of customer service, the excessive use of automatic checkouts and excessively high prices have all killed our shops,” it said.
“It's the fall of an empire! Thousands of employees are in disarray!”
The union said the store sales are a “hidden way of making people redundant with impunity”, to “get rid of its employees, their skills and know-how”, which it said was for the “sole purpose of profits and profitability of the main shareholder, Jean-Charles Naouri”.
It added “the CGT will be extremely vigilant” as it continues to watch “this umpteenth attempt at social destruction”.
In addition, it highlighted Mr Naouri has recently been placed in police custody as part of an investigation into price manipulation and insider dealing.
Casino employs 56,000 workers in France, of which around 4,000 are estimated to be affected by the sales.
The group countered CGT’s release, saying that while it "understands concerns about jobs”, it is working on a plan "designed to enable Intermarché to develop commercially" and to ensure "continuity" of employment.
From Casino to Intermarché?
So far, CGT has said the following supermarkets are set to change, but this list has not been confirmed by Casino itself.
The supermarket group told actu.fr that it is still in a “consultation phase” and that the plan is still waiting for approval from the market competition authority, l’Autorité de la concurrence. This is set to be delivered “in the next few weeks”, Casino said.
The CGT list claims the following stores are set to change by the end of 2023:
Chalon-sur-Saône, Amiens, Albertville, Besançon, Chasse sur Rhône, Fontaine les Dijon, Lons le Saunier, Tours la Riche, Le Puy, Poitier, Aix les Bains, Bazeilles, Firminy, Amiens, Bar Le Duc, Bernice, Bordeaux Couberant, Sénon, Chagny, Chaumont, Charleville Mézières, Chaumont, Cofrauçon, Caudoran, Dijon Clemenceau, Estancarbon, Eymoutiers, Chalomon, Fumel, Habsheim, Izon, Lagassite, Limoges, Luxeuil les Bains, Lacaune, Lyon Debourg, Metz, Millau, Montussan, Niort, Parazol, Paris Grand Pavoi, Pau Charles de Gaulle, Pau Lons, Ploiret, Pontarlier, Rioz, Sarla la Caneda, Cesson, St Jean du Lac, Toulouse l’Union, Villeneuve sur Lot, Colsoire, Les Deux Alpes, Lille, Saint-Palais sur Mer, and St Louis.
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