Carrefour Update

Yesterday, Carrefour published their full year results for 2009. Revenues in France were down by 2.8%; in Spain, they were down by 5.8%; in Italy, they were down by 4.7%; and in Belgium, they were down by 2.2%. But it was a different story in Carrefour's growth markets. In Latin America, revenues were up by 9.4%; and in Asia, revenues were up by 8.8%. But in the European growth markets - that's Poland, Turkey, Romania, Greece and Portugal, revenues were down by 6.6%. Somewhat astonishingly, Carrefour opened or acquired over 1,000 new stores in 2009.