PARIS(Reuters) -French retailer Casino's full-year losses deepened sharply as it felt the impact of restructuring and stiff competition for its large hypermarkets, the company said on Wednesday, sending its shares plunging by as much as 15%.
Casino suffered a consolidated net loss of 5.7 billion euros ($6.2 billion) last year, widening from 316 million euros the previous year, and said it will not publish a revised 2024 outlook in view of its imminent change in leadership.
The new leadership team will be formed around Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky after the company was brought to the brink of default by years of debt-fuelled acquisitions and loss of market share to rivals.
The Paris Commerce court on Monday approved Kretinsky's bailout plan for Casino under an accelerated protection procedure.
Shares in the company were down 15.2% at 0.60 euros by 0849 GMT.
Casino has already reached agreements with French rivals on the sale of 288 supermarkets and hypermarkets in France, leaving it with upmarket brand Monoprix and its Franprix stores in city centres.
Casino said that in view of that disposal process and the treatment of these businesses as discontinued, last November's core profit projections for the French operations are no longer valid.
Net financial debt at end of December 2023 was 6.2 billion euros, against 4.5 billion euros at end December 2022.
($1 = 0.9242 euros)