Carrefour’s slip on the Paris Stock Exchange, after press rumors according to which the Ministry of Economy asked for a very high fine for the group due to the “imbalance” of its contractual relationships with the franchised stores. The stock of the big French large-scale retail trade dropped by 9% to 13.22 euros, at a three-year low and is the bottom of both the Cac 40 index (+0.16%) and the Stoxx Europe 600 .
The 160-page document
According to information published by «La Lettre» late on Monday evening, the Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, in a 160-page document he would recommend “the imposition of a fine of 200 million euros” on Carrefour for “the abusive practices committed by the latter to the detriment of its affiliates and tenants”. The company would be asked to review the contractual relationshipjudged too unbalanced in particular due to the effect of around ten clauses.
The impact on the stock market
The Paris Stock Exchange is penalized by the collapse of Carrefour, while continuing its rebound after a difficult week followed by the European elections and the dissolution of the French National Assembly. On Monday the Cac 40 had recovered 0.91% after the weekly drop of 6.23% recorded last Friday. It is now still far from the all-time high set in mid-May (8,239.99 points at the close), and advanced by 0.06% to 7,577.27 points. Investors are still trying to better analyze the situation and the possible repercussions of the upcoming legislative elections in France.
The group’s appeal
Concerns had eased after Marine Le Pen said she would collaborate with President Emmanuel Macron if he won the next elections, which comforted the markets. The collapse of the shares of the French retailer Carrefour is weighing on the Paris index today, which are now losing 7.63% to 13.43 euros but which at the beginning of the session had fallen by almost 10% reaching 13.14 euros, the lowest level since November 2020. Reason: the revelations of La Lettre which announced that the Ministry of Economy recommends the courts to order Carrefour to review the contractual relationship with its franchises, deemed too unbalanced, recommending a fine of 200 million euros. The group disputed Bercy’s findings to AFP.
