The fall is endless for the Casino group, whose headquarters is in Saint-Étienne. The reason for this new decline is the announcement, on November 20, of the sale by the British investment fund Trinity of its 7.65% stake in the capital of France Retail Holdings, the largest shareholder of the Saint-Etienne group, to the company EP Equity Investment (EPEI) belonging to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky who currently owns 53.04% of Casino's shares.
A strategic plan poorly received by investors
The news of Trinity's disengagement comes as the distributor presented a strategic plan the previous week which was rather poorly received by investors. This sale would however have been planned before the presentation of this program which is structured around three “growth drivers”.
Philippe Palazzi, the group's general manager, wants, first of all, for his brands to become the meeting place for everyday food shopping, with “the best of local brands”. But his “priority”, according to his own words, is for Casino to be a major player in take-out catering.
Soon mobile grocery stores
The group has just announced that it will launch nomadic grocery stores to combat commercial and social isolation in rural areas and peri-urban areas.
Its third objective is to be the leader in new daily life services, such as cash withdrawal at checkouts tested at Vival in the provinces or Vinted lockers, luggage storage or equipment rental at Franprix.
Will these good intentions be enough to straighten out this kneeling distributor? Nothing is less certain…
France
