Carrefour Aktie

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Carrefour Q3 2026 Sales Webcast and Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speakers today, Mr. Alexandre Bompard, Chairman and CEO; and Mr. Matthieu Malige, CFO. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining our Q3 sales call. I was not originally scheduled to join this call. But given the scale and the seriousness of the events in France over the past few days and their consequences for our business and our teams, I felt it was important to speak to you directly. I want to begin by addressing what happened over the weekend. Thousands of stores across France were attacked, products dropped and for some stores, equipment was destroyed. As Chairman of the French Retail Federation, I'm following the situation across the sector and its consequences for retailers throughout the country.

As we speak tonight, the situation keeps evolving. After Saturday's demonstrations and lootings, there were more riots on Sunday then new threats yesterday. Carrefour was directly and strongly affected. Around 50 of our stores were hit on day 1. Many were looted and the damage is considerable. In this context, our first concern is the safety of our colleagues, franchisees and customers. Many of our teams and partners faced deeply distressing situations. I want to express my solidarity with them. Our store teams have once again shown great courage and dignity. We are supporting them and helping the affected stores resume operations as soon as it is safe. We are also working with our teams and franchise partners on insurance coverage and the claims process. The direct costs are only part of the impact.

Stores that are not physically damaged are also affected. Lower customer footfall in many areas, shorter opening hours because of curfews, precautionary closures and access difficulties are disrupting trading. This is continuing in some areas at the beginning of this week. Going forward, we will have to increase our operating costs, notably in areas such as security and specific logistics for damaged stores. As you understand, the situation is unprecedented and the level of uncertainty is very high on operations and trading. The government announced security measures, including curfew at the local level. New demonstration are announced notably for October 24 on November 5. So it's impossible to get a clear picture of the situation.

This happens after a cycle of more difficult consumption since mid-September on the back of higher energy prices, social unrest from high school students and the deteriorated climate on the 2027 budget with more taxes and less subsidies. We are entering a crucial period for retail. The final months of the year traditionally account for more than 1/3 of Carrefour France full year recurring operating income. We expect the severity of the security situation all over France to further weaken consumer confidence and weigh significantly on spending while imposing increasing operating costs just to keep our stores open. Our Q3 commercial momentum was solid and in line with expectations. However, the events of the past few days have changed the outlook for the final month of the year. We estimated it was our responsibility to revise our 2026 target as set out in our press release.

These revised targets keep showing profit growth versus 2025, but at a lower level. Carrefour has a solid business model, a strong local footprint and committed teams. Our response will be driven by clear execution priorities. We will continue to strengthen our price competitiveness to support customer value and loyalty, accelerate the development of our convenience format and e-commerce and pursue our EUR 1 billion cost savings plan with discipline. We will also keep advancing Carrefour 2030, notably digitalization and the expansion of our growth formats. We are confident that these priorities will help us manage the current disruption, deliver our revised 2026 objectives and continue building the group's long-term growth.

I will now leave Matthieu to comment on our Q3 performance and explain the revised targets in detail.

Thank you, Alexandre, and good evening to all of you. Let me start with a few key highlights from this Q3. Group sales increased by 2.3% like-for-like following plus 2.1% in H1. Growth was driven by food sales, up 2.7% and the positive contribution from the 3 core countries. These results came in the context of solid consumer momentum in Europe over the summer despite a rebound in general inflation weighing on purchasing power, whilst food inflation remained contained. In Latin America, consumption remained under pressure and was notably penalized in Brazil by high interest rates.

In France, sales grew by 1.2% like-for-like with further improvement in price competitiveness. In Spain, sales rose by 2.1%, supported by volume growth and a strong momentum in convenience. In Brazil, sales grew by 1.4% with Atacadão accelerating its volume trends way above the market. We continue to roll out our Carrefour 2030 priorities. Carrefour kept expanding in growth formats over the quarter, notably with 89 new convenience stores in France and Spain and 2 Atacadão openings in Brazil. The [ Vusion ] solution is now deployed in 28 hypermarkets. E-commerce grew by 18% in Q3, and we also continue to deliver our cost savings plan in line with our EUR 1 billion target for 2026. Overall, Q3 sales were solid and in line with our expectations. As Alexandre has just explained, recent events in France have changed the outlook for the final months of the year. We have, therefore, adjusted our 2026 financial targets.

I will explain the revised numbers in more detail at the end of the presentation. Let me take you through our Q3 numbers with the sales bridge in Slide 3 of the presentation. Group sales reached EUR 22.7 billion, up 3.9% on a reported basis. Like-for-like sales grew plus 2.3%, in line with H1. The scope and M&A effect was negative 0.7% over the quarter, mainly reflecting the sale of 6 hypermarkets in France, in line with the commitments made to the competition authority following the acquisition of Cora and Match. Petrol contributed 1.3 percentage points, while the calendar effect was negative 0.2%. Foreign exchange had a positive impact of plus 1.2% over the quarter, mainly reflecting the appreciation of the Brazilian real. Let me now turn to France. Sales grew by 1.2% like-for-like in Q3 with positive growth across all formats.

The food retail market continued to grow both in value and volume, and our food sales were up 1.6%. Our price investment continued to improve our competitiveness and our price image, contributing to a 2-point increase in Net Promoter Score. Trading was stronger over the summer, then we saw a slowdown in September. In this context of slowdown on consumption, the Carrefour anniversary campaign did not deliver the usual uplift this year. [ Former ] Cora stores grew by 7.3% like-for-like after 5% in Q2 and 2.3% in Q1. Match stores were up 3.4%. This shows continued progress. The commercial effects of last year pricing and assortment reset are gaining momentum. Cora is continuously gaining customers and market share.

We look forward to accelerating the dynamic further in Q4 despite the new context. E-commerce grew by 15% with further market share gains in drive and home delivery. We opened 54 convenience stores during the quarter. Finally, yesterday, we announced that we had signed an agreement for the acquisition of Codifrance. This transaction is part of our Carrefour 2030 plan for France, which aims to strengthen our market share, partly through tactical M&A, consolidate our leadership in the convenience segment and improve our EBIT margin. Let's now turn to Slide 5 and Spain, where the market remains solid and mainly driven by volume growth. Carrefour Spain continued to post solid sales growth, up 2.1% like-for-like in Q3, in line with the previous quarters. Momentum remained positive in both food and nonfood with sales up 1.8% like-for-like in food and 3.2% like-for-like in nonfood. Convenience continued to be a strong growth format with like-for-like sales up 13% and continued network expansion with 35 openings over the quarter.

Commercially, our omnichannel strategy is also paying off with e-commerce up 8%. Finally, customer satisfaction continued to improve with NPS up 2 points in Q3, driven by our sustained commitment to price leadership in the country, supporting consumer purchasing power. Now turning to Slide 6 and our operations in Brazil. The Brazilian market remained challenging over the quarter. High interest rates and weaker consumer sentiment continued to weigh on purchasing power. Despite a more favorable comparison base as volumes declined mid-single digits in Q3 last year, volumes kept declining this quarter in both Cash & Carry and retail markets. Against this backdrop, Carrefour Brazil posted plus 1.4% like-for-like sales growth in Q3 with food sales growth accelerating to 2.2% from 0.7% last quarter. This was notably driven by Atacadão, which grew 2% like-for-like, accelerating from 0.5% in Q2 and negative 1% in Q1. Atacadão's volume trends clearly improved, and it accelerated its market share gains.

The adaptation of Atacadão's commercial model with a simplified assortment, targeted commercial initiatives and the rapid rollout of the Bulnez private label with 300 SKUs now available, all this resonated well with customers. The retail segment posted food sales up 1.5% like-for-like. As in previous quarters, nonfood sales were penalized by the discontinuation of the nonfood e-commerce activity, which was not profitable. Sam's Club delivered plus 3.6% like-for-like growth driven by positive volumes and an increase in active members. Moving to the other country segment on Slide 7. In Belgium, Carrefour recorded the third straight quarter of improvement in like-for-like sales growth at plus 2.3% outlining a solid commercial momentum driven by positive volumes. Market share was up 20 bps over the quarter, supported by a successful combination between investment in price competitiveness, promotions and loyalty benefits.

In Poland, the market was penalized by food deflation for the first time in 10 years. Sales were down minus 4.3% like-for-like. In Argentina, sales grew by 24% like-for-like. Despite continued pressure on consumer purchasing power, we consolidated our market leadership and gained market share in both value and volume. Volumes have remained positive since June, clearly outperforming the market. Now let's turn to Slide 8, which outlines the adjustments to our financial targets for the full year 2026. The social and security situation in France has deteriorated and is expected to remain under pressure for some time. We expect this to weigh significantly on consumption and disrupt operations in our stores through the end of the year, which is a critical period for our activity.

Against this backdrop, we have decided to pause or delay a number of works in our stores to be totally focused on operations and servicing our customers. Consequently, our CapEx envelope for the year is reduced by EUR 100 million to EUR 1.6 billion from EUR 1.7 billion initially. In this context, the group is adjusting its guidance for 2026. We continue to expect growth in recurring operating income. We now expect operating margin to increase by 0 to 15 basis points compared with our initial target of 25 basis points increase.

We now expect adjusted earnings per share to be stable or show slight growth compared with 2025 versus our previous expectation of high single-digit growth. Finally, we expect net free cash flow to slightly decrease compared with 2025, whereas we had previously expected slight growth. I will not comment Page 9 with key takeaways, which summarizes what we just discussed and is here for your reference.

I thank you for your attention. Alexandre and I are now happy to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] And your first question today comes from the line of Frederick Wild from Jefferies.

So first of all, I just wanted to start by passing on my heartfelt sympathies to you and your colleagues in France for everything.

Sorry, Frederick. Your line is very bad. Is there any way you can speak louder. So we can hear you well.

Can you hear me now any better?

It's much better. Thank you.

Great. So apologies. I was just starting by saying I hope everyone is okay out there with you and your colleagues in France. But to move on to my questions. First of all, could you help me understand the scale of the downgrade to EPS that's just going on there in terms of what -- how you are thinking about sales evolving in France in Q4, how much the extra security costs are going to impact this year and all the other moving parts? Just so we've got a sense of what's actually driving that downgrade.

And my second question is just a bit more about the Brazil and Spanish consumer dynamics, whether -- how those trended in September and whether you've seen any meaningful change in consumer behavior in either of those 2 markets? And then if I could slip a final third one in there. Could you just help explain a bit why France slowed down in September and whether this was being led by Cora and whether this would have carried on absent any other disruption in the French market?

Thank you, Frederick. Let's come to your first question to try to quantify the financial consequence of the events. So the events are very recent, as you know, and they are continuing. But -- what we see or analyze and due also to our experience of the last days on previous social situation, even if this one is unprecedented, the impact has several components. First, there are direct costs from stolen or destroyed goods, damage to store and equipment, additional security, repair costs and lost sales when stores are closed. So that's direct costs. Secondly, there are broader operational effects starting with top line. We anticipate both a deterioration in the consumption dynamics due to the morale of the customers at a moment of the year where there are events, particular events like Black Friday or, of course, Christmas days.

So we see a deterioration in the consumption dynamics with lower customer traffic. There are also shorter opening hours because of curfews that impacts top line, precautionary closures. 4 hours ago, I had to close a new commercial center suddenly, and that's the new reality today of our activity and access difficulties, including at stores that were not physically damaged. So second bulk is top line. Third is we are also monitoring possible supply disruption and the additional resources needed to protect our [ sites ]. We cannot yet provide a detailed breakdown by cost items as there are still many moving parts and a lot of uncertainty, but these are the main parts, cost, top line, disruption, additional resources to open a store. And it's a continuing process, and we have seen continued turmoil since last Saturday.

There were riots on Sunday. It was not expected at all. On Monday, there were threatens. There are new security measures every day taken by the government, including, for example, curfew in Paris and other mechanism. And there are new national demonstration announced, big one, 24th of October, which means Saturday, November 5. So at this point, things appear to be deteriorating with no visible sign of real improvement. And that's exactly what we are. And when we -- based on our current assessment, we estimate the maximum financial risk at around EUR 200 million on recurring operating income compared with our previous objective. If it is [ 0.15% ] of increase, it would be EUR 80 million loss of recurring operating income and the maximum risk is EUR 200 million on recurring operating income. So that's where we are today with our analysis and with what is happening every day. Your second question is on Brazil and Spain.

What I can say is that the dynamic in the 2 countries is positive, and I would say, strong in September for different types of reasons. In Spain, the macro dynamic is very good. And we are good in this dynamic. So we continue to have a positive momentum Q3, including September and including the beginning of October. Brazil is related to other facts. The dynamic of the market remains difficult due to interest rates and negative volume for cash and carry, but we gained a lot of market share particularly on Atacadão. And we have this positive momentum of this positive growth of 2% for Atacadão in the Q3 and the good dynamic, particularly a good dynamic in September, and that's what we see at the beginning of October.

So dynamic in September in the 2 [ months ] is very positive for different reasons in Spain and Brazil and continuing in October. The last question was what happened in September. So I think Matthieu has explained that quite precisely. What we have seen is a good summertime and after mid-September, we have begun to see a slight decline of the consumption. And the Carrefour anniversary campaign that takes place every year in September was below last year performance on the back of high comps. And of course, it was related of the first sign of the slowdown of the consumption in September due to the situation, due to the students events and so on. So that's what we have seen in September.

Your next question from the line of Izabel Dobreva from Morgan Stanley.

Regarding the CapEx guidance, I understand that a lot of this is coming out of France. Could you help us understand, should we expect you to step that up next year as hopefully the situation normalizes, meaning that the total CapEx envelope is unchanged on a multiyear view? And then my second question is on market share in France. Could you update us on your outlook there? Because the Nielsen, which has just come out this evening shows the market share is down 50 basis points in hypers for P10. So could you maybe comment on that figure and your expectations for the evolution going forward?

Thank you, Izabel. Thank you very much. So well, we need to refine our CapEx plan for next year. We have postponed, as I said, a number of projects and works. You're right. This is focused on France. So well, it's too early. We'll have to revisit. We think that the annual CapEx envelope should be relatively unchanged for next year. We'll see where we are exactly at the beginning of the year. On your second question relating to the recent market share data, well, several things to have in mind. So the first one is that in the context of consumption, as Alexandre said just a minute ago, the anniversary campaign has not been as efficient in the hypermarket as it is traditionally.

Then we have a very high historical. I'm sure you saw that, which I think was roughly plus 30 bps last year. So it's a lower number than we had in the previous period with a high historical. More generally, on market shares over the summers, as you know, -- we have the remedies that I mentioned which weigh roughly 15, 20 bps per period. If you see between P6 and P9, we've had positive volume market share despite this negative perimeter effect, which we think is a good sign and which is consistent with what we hear from customers in terms of price image, price perception. -- we've been implementing a number of waves of price decrease since the beginning of the year. And it's important to notice that for 4 periods in a row, we've been gaining market share in volume terms despite a negative perimeter effect. Then we have this promotional campaign in P10. But I think overall, the dynamic is interesting.

I had one follow-up actually, if I may. Of the EUR 80 million to EUR 200 million that you mentioned, are you able to split that out between what are the one-off kind of costs related to shrink to store repair? And how much of that is the expected deterioration in the like-for-like going forward?

Well, so as Alexandre said, there's a number of moving parts, and you see that the situation is developing. There's one number within these envelopes that we have flagged is that the cost, the specific cost for the last few days relating to merchandise relating to repairs and so on was in excess of EUR 10 million just for the past 2, 3 days. And so that's the only number we have flagged. Then I think it's premature to detail the main bricks inside the buckets that you just described.

Your next question today comes from the line of Manjari Dhar from RBC.

My first question was just a follow-up on the previous 2 questions on the new guidance range. I was just wondering if you could help us understand what -- what would be the situation or what would the situation look like to get to the EUR 80 million number versus the EUR 200 million number that you commented? I suppose what should we be looking out for? And then my second question was just on Cora. I appreciate the good top line progression. I was just wondering, given the developments that you're seeing now, what are your expectations for Cora for the full year now?

Thank you for your question. It's an ongoing process and an ongoing crisis. So it's always quite difficult to absolutely give you precise elements. But the difference between EUR 80 million to EUR 200 million would be linked to length of the crisis, the magnitude of the crisis, the number of security or insecurity events that will occur. For example, there are Saturday a new demonstration -- national demonstrations. Without any doubt, I hope security would be better than last Saturday, but the impact on our activities would be high. So -- and there are several that are already announced. So it's difficult to precisely tell you the difference between 80 to 200. But the 2 main aspects are length and magnitude and consequently, impact on the sentiment of the customers.

So the more the crisis is lasting, the longer it is the more impact it has on the consumer confidence on their morale, on their willingness to consume, particularly for events like Black Friday or Christmas seasons. So that's what is key for us. Concerning Cora, you have seen the dynamic, 2.5 at the first quarter, 5% at the second quarter, 7.5% at the third quarter. So we keep improving the commercial dynamic, and we're expecting more for Q4. We need more for Q4 to reach our objective. But the current dynamic is positive.

The next question today comes from the line of Sreedhar Mahamkali from UBS.

I do realize the severity of the situation, but they seem to be very large cuts to both margins and free cash flow. Maybe just to dig a bit more into some of these topics. Maybe first one, factually, in terms of Q3 margins and cash flow, were they in line with your expectations prior to protest? Were you delivering sort of on track to what you were thinking? That's the first question, specifically on Q3 progress. Secondly, I think, again, trying to calibrate, I know it's a bit of a difficult one. But where you are sitting here now, EUR 80 million to EUR 200 million range that you've talked to, how do you scale that from the EUR 10 million that you just talked to in the past few days?

What needs to happen? If there is any more color you could give, that would be helpful. And finally, that shortfall, when you look at the group level, I think you're still saying operating profit should grow, but clearly, there is a reasonably large cut on France. But when we look back, is it just France? Or are there other regions, Europe, LatAm are also a little behind expectations? Is there anything else to be recalibrated as we sit here?

I would let -- I would let Matthieu precise these financial elements. But just to be very clear because it's important. Our Q3 commercial momentum and performance was good and in line with our expectation. And on that sole basis, till Friday, we would have confirmed our guidance. That's where we were till Saturday morning. So that's something that is very clear. And second element I can tell you and after Matthieu will precise is that it's -- on this revision is only limited to France. The other geographies are in line with expectations and are in line with our objectives on guidelines.

Well, no, it's very clear. Maybe just on your second one, Sreedhar, you see it's a mix of the EUR 80 million to EUR 200 million is a mix of specific moments where we have to close some stores earlier specific costs, as you can imagine, there is a number of security agents, which are present in some of our stores. We're adapting a number of operational process to ensure the right opening. So just opening the stores is more expensive from Monday morning onwards.

And then it's about business trend and morale of the consumers with a number of key days, including Saturdays, Alexandre just mentioned the upcoming demonstrations. And at a moment where we have a high proportion of our profit, which is generated. And so a negative consumption trend at this moment is obviously very sensitive for our bottom line. We have high level of nonfood inventories that has already come into our stores, into our distribution centers. We look forward to selling them and having a good end of year campaign. Obviously, this is more at risk today than it was a week ago.

The next question today first from the line of Xavier Le Mené from Bank of America Securities.

Three, if I may. The first one, back on France, I'm afraid. How do you compare your network versus the competition? What I mean there is, do you think that your network is more at risk than your competitors or not? And do you see some format more at risk? Is it the hypermarket or the supermarket or the convenience stores? Just to understand potentially what may happen going forward, especially on your market share. So if you're more at risk than the others.

So something I would like to understand. Brief question on Codifrance and the acquisition that you're making. Are you buying just the sales? Or are you also buying brands like [ Coccinelle ]? That's the first part of the question. And the second thing, do you see a risk of potentially losing some of the affiliates of Codifrance? Or do you think that you will be able to keep a good retention here? The third one is just on Brazil. What are your expectations actually post the presidential election? So do you expect some improvement? I know there's still a lot of uncertainty, of course, but do you have hope that things could get a bit better post election?

Thank you for the 3 questions. The first one is, of course, very relevant. No doubt that we are among the main retailers in France, the most affected by this crisis due to the fact that we have the larger number of stores, 6,000, and that we are a leader in convenience in urban cities. If we are a leader in Paris, we are a leader in [ Lyon ], we are leader in Marseille.

All these cities, of course, are strongly hit. They are not the only one to be, but they are strongly hit. And so due to the number of stores we have and due to the fact that the convenience stores are strongly present in the center of the main big cities in France, of course, we are more hit than our main competitors. As you know, Chairman of the Retail Federation. And when I compare the number of stores that are affected in my competitors and colleagues, of course, the number is highly different. For some of them, it's sometimes almost 0, sometimes 2 or 3. So it's really related to the role we have on convenience stores and in the centers of cities.

Codifrance first, we are very happy of this acquisition. it was quite a surprise, I think, for the market that we could be able to enter this process. It's perfectly in line with our objective to reinforce our leadership on proximity, both on franchise and on affiliation business. I think we have been quite active and it should not have been in our -- it shouldn't have been for us, but we have been quite good, I think, to lead this acquisition. So as you know, we already operate an affiliation business in France through the [ Proxi ] banner. It will accelerate this business and strengthen our presence. Codifrance provides a skilled platform, supplying approximately 3,100 points of sale with an established logistic infrastructure and experienced team.

It generates approximately more than EUR 300 million in revenue and a satisfactory level of profitability. The integration will build on the continuity of Codifrance organization and business model stores supplied by Codifrance, of course, will not be converted to Carrefour banners, but will keep their own. And our plan is with Codifrance to progressively improve their commercial performance, help them to have better conditions and deliver with them short-term cost synergies. On the Brazil, it's too early to tell you what we think about the election because we follow polls quite every day and the spread is very tiny and change day by day. So we will see on Sunday what happens. And the good news, whatever will be that this uncertainty process will be over. And after we see what will be the next President on Sunday.

Next question today comes from the line of Monique Pollard from Citigroup.

The first one, it was just to come back to a comment, Alexandre, you made. I think you said the final quarter of the year accounts for 1/3 of ROI. So if I take that relationship to France, I mean, this cut to EBIT for the guidance is effectively suggesting that French EBIT could be down over 50% in terms of the fourth quarter. So I just want -- just given that seems quite an extreme position, I was keen to understand as well, given your comments that the proximity stores, the convenience stores being impacted particularly, are you sharing some of the pain with the franchise partners of the elevated operating costs?

Or how is that working? Or is that still to be decided? The second question was around the broader operational impact, which you said that could impact the top line, particularly as we go into peak trading. I guess the way I'm thinking about it is about 10% of the French sales are nonfood. So wouldn't it largely be just in that nonfood portion where you would see the kind of weaker top line play through rather than in the core food sales? And then the final question I just had was around insurance. How much insurance do you have that might cover some of these impacts and whether any you have assumed can be redeemed this year?

Sorry, could you tell again the last question because there was a problem on the hearing. If you can just precise the last one.

Yes, absolutely. The last question was just how much insurance you have that might cover some of the impact from these protests and whether you have assumed any of that insurance contribution, if there is any, might be redeemed this year?

Thank you for your several questions. we precise, but on the principles, 2 ideas. First, as you can imagine, we are with our franchisees, with our partner. It's a small convenience stores with entrepreneurs that have invested their money. And of course, we help them to cross this very difficult crisis. The government has also announced today some aid for them and a series of measures that would be very positive for each franchisee. But -- at the end of the end, if they have a problem with their insurance, if they have problem with their stocks and so on and so on, with their inventory, we will be with them.

It's impossible for us just to say, okay, now it's your stores and you do what you have to do now. For each of them, we try to be sure that they have a clear answer both by the government, by the insurance and by ourselves. For their insurance, they don't have the same situation than for our stores. There are some [ franchises ] and so on and so on. So it can be a little bit different. But if we see that they are in difficulties because they don't -- they are not covered for everything, we help them because we have to be aside them in this crisis. Matthieu, you want to precise.

So then on your second question and the impact, well, you're right, discretionary consumption, typically nonfood is probably more at risk. But we think that it's a mindset of consumption. You don't just buy food to feed your family, you also have moments, you have specific product. If the mindset for consumption is not here, we know that it has an impact. We have gone through that in some crises previously. Then the relation to the profit of a specific quarter, it's mainly a fixed cost business. It's likely we're going to have more costs, as I said earlier, just for running the operations that we're going to have more repairs for a number of specific situations with loss of volume.

So I'm not sure the impact is to be compared with the level of profitability we have in the start of the year, mainly relating to the big level of sales that we do at the end of the year. Then on insurance, we do have some insurance ourselves, but you can see that a number of what we've described is not covered. If you just have slower sales because of the mindset. If you have to close earlier your store because there is a risk to the security or there is a curfew, which is decided by the government, then all this will not be covered. And then when you have losses, we have some thresholds, which are not covering for 100%. So you know how it works. So a little bit would be covered, but we think most of the impact will hit our P&L. That's why we're adjusting our numbers tonight.

And sorry, just to follow up on the insurance point, though. Is the little bit that's covered from the insurance included in this guidance? Or would that be additional when it comes through?

No. So well, it's a net. The impact is a net. Then again, the situation is developing as we speak. So what exactly will be the proportion that will be covered by insurance. It's too early to determine. It will depend on the events and the shape and duration and magnitude that the crisis takes.

The next question today comes from the line of Bob Joyce from BNP Paribas.

I've got 3 questions as well. One was a quick follow-up just on the [ Monique's ] first point. Am I correct in hearing that the impact you're estimating will be between about 1/4 and 1/2 of the French EBIT in 4Q, given you comment on 1/3 of the EBIT in the fourth quarter? The second one is just in terms of thinking about this on a sort of look-forward basis into 2027, I mean, given your comments on the third quarter trending in line, should we basically just think of the kind of 200, 350 million implied in the EBIT guidance as a base to build from next year. So effectively look at the fourth quarter impact as an entirely one-off in France?

And then the final one is, I'm just trying to square the EBIT guide with the EPS guide. If I sort of take the low end of the EBIT range, I'm getting to a sort of -- I can see the slight increase in EPS year-over-year potentially. But if I take the sort of worst-case scenario, would be getting EPS down mid-single digit, maybe slightly more. I'm just wondering if I'm getting something wrong or something changed below the line since we last spoke.

Well, thank you very much, Rob. Well, on your first one, I think we've pretty much said it all. So we've been clear that the impact from EUR 80 million to EUR 200 million is purely focused on France. The rest is running well and unchanged. And I think I was clear in answering to Monique earlier. On your second question, well, again, we think it's a specific situation. You didn't ask the question about our midterm guidance, but clearly, our midterm 2028 and 2030 guidance is unchanged because we think it's a specific situation, which does not modify our trajectory.

I think it's an important point. So then it will depend on what's the dynamic for the business at the beginning of the year, what is one-offs. We think it should be mainly one-offs. So we'll see. But clearly, it doesn't change the medium-term perspective that's important. Then on the combination -- computation from recurring operating income to EPS make sure you get your financial result right. We -- maybe it's a little over -- it's a little too big in terms of financial cost. Again, in comparison with last year, we said that we would get about 75% of the benefit from refinancing Brazil in 2026.

So I just want to make sure that you reflect that. And so the numbers, I think they were clear. We guided to a full year impact of the refinancing of EUR 180 million, which was roughly 12% of difference in interest rates applied to roughly EUR 1.5 billion of debt that has been refinanced with 25% of the impact occurring in 2025 and the remaining 75% happening this year. So clearly, the financial charge should be below EUR 500 million for the year. That's probably something that was missing in your model.

Okay. Finance charge is below EUR 500 million for the year?

Yes.

Your next question comes from the line of François Digard from Kepler Cheuvreux.

First, if I may, thank you very much for your transparency in this very difficult period we are all facing in France. That is very appreciated. Then I have a few questions. You mentioned in September, a kind of slowdown in the second part of September. You mentioned students price. I was a bit surprised, is it not also correlated and more impacted by the energy cost increase and their impact on purchasing power? Then I have a second question. Could you provide some details on the looted stores? Because I was in the impression that proximity on a few supermarkets have been for up to 50 stores have been impacted. But I'm surprised to see in some quotes of Alexandre in the press that some hypermarkets have been targeted to, which is a bit surprising because that's not precisely in the urban areas. So if you could elaborate on that. And just reassure me on the fact that your banner has not been specifically targeted following past boycotts or these kind of things.

[Foreign Language] Francois, for your words, we really appreciate. Of course, you know perfectly France. You have seen how September has evolved with many negative aspects related to, of course, energy costs, the question of the price of oil, the question of the purchasing power, the debate on the budget situation, the risk of a financial crisis and all that. And there were also, as I mentioned, the first sudden demonstration. So that's the series of events, mainly in the second part of September that have really affected the climate of September. Considering your question on the 50 stores, so the main stores, of course, the main bulk is the really urban stores, which means not only convenience, but also Carrefour market. Let's take an example, Sunday morning, the first 2 stores that I've seen very early in the morning was proximity stores in [indiscernible] and the Carrefour market in [indiscernible].

So different formats have been impacted. But also we have seen many closures of our hypermarkets. As you know, we have a lot of hypermarkets that are based on very urban areas. They have been very impacted in 2023, as you probably remember. So we are -- that's how we based our network. We are more strong -- we are stronger in this area, and we know that this area are more affected these days by the crisis. So that's why at the end of the end, because of the strong presence we have in the center of the cities and the strong presence we have in the [indiscernible] in the [indiscernible] of the big cities, we are more impacted.

Then I think we were clear, Francois, you know that there's been a few stores, but the impact is obviously much broader because we think it's a change of consumption trends and of conditions of operating our stores with more cost. I think we've covered that today. And then I don't think that we were particularly or specifically targeted in any way.

We will now take our final question for today. And the final question comes from the line of Geoffroy Michalet from ODDO BHF.

I have 3 for you. First one, any impact that can be foreseen on the working capital line for this year? I think we are in a period where we are building inventories ahead of Black Friday and Christmas season. So is there anything to -- is there a stress there? The second question is the fact that you mentioned that it is probably a one-off effect for 2026. But don't you fear that what you described on the debate on oil cost, purchasing power, budget situation, risk of a financial crisis might potentially be prolonged into early 2027. And the third question is, do we have any development on the cyberattack of the [ fridges ] that you had to cope with along with industry players as well? And are there also any insurance related to that?

Thank you, Geoff. I think you're right. It's a good question on working cap. We have included that in the revision of the guidance on the net free cash flow objective. there is a risk that if we have a lower sales dynamics at the end of the year, there could be an impact. We think it would be limited, and it's been factored into the revision of the guidance for [indiscernible]..

For the 2 other questions. So first, the cyberattack last Monday. I would say this cyber incident had a limited operational impact on Carrefour. It affected approximately 80 franchised supermarkets. No hypermarkets were affected. So it's not material for us. But of course, we take it very seriously. We invest year after year big CapEx on [indiscernible]. We have hired experts. We are working very thoughtfully on all our processes. Today, we have a Board on this subject was one of the key subjects we presented to the Board. So it's something on which we are working, of course, a lot trying to be the most -- more professional and the more prepared we can be.

On your question about, I would say, perspective, I will take it a little bit in a different way, if you don't mind. We are crossing a strong crisis in France, security and social crisis that started a few days ago, and that is hitting retail and mainly Carrefour very strong. The other elements you mentioned, energy costs, oil cost, purchasing power situation, situation of public debt and so on. I would say our model has -- have proven the first 9 months of the year that it was capable to face it positively. And that's why today, it's a bit difficult for us to see that the big efforts we have done in France in the 9 months to face all these negative elements and to follow our objectives are damaged a little bit by the security crisis.

But the different elements you mentioned, they are part of our business today. When you do retail in France today, you know that there is problem of purchasing power in the country. There is a problem of public finances, question of debt, unemployed crisis of the country and political instability. But until Saturday on this unprecedented security crisis, we were capable to face them and to have a good commercial dynamic and to transform this good commercial dynamic into improvement of our profitability. And so the conviction we have and we are building this model day after day is that when the security crisis will be over, we will come back to the previous situation. We don't have any doubt with that. And that means that our model is resilient, capable to answer these different crisis.

Well, many time to close. So I'd like to thank you for your time and attention. Obviously, Sebastien and the rest of the team is available for any follow-up you may need.

And we have -- we give you [ rendezvous ] for our same-day hyper on November 17.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Carrefour Half Year 2026 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to your speaker, Mr. Alexandre Bompard, Chairman and CEO of Carrefour. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good evening, everyone, [indiscernible], and thank you for joining us today to discuss our first half of 2026. This semester was marked by the elaboration of our new strategic plan, Carrefour 2030 that we have carefully and extensively prepared with all our teams. It has also been a very active semester in terms of communication and investor engagement around the plan. We intensified our dialogue with shareholders and the broader financial community, including through the CSR Capital Market Day we held on June 16.

The feedback we have received from the investment community has been very encouraging, and I'm not referring only to the share price performance since February. Investors have welcomed our sharper operational focus on our core markets, our investment program to modernize our stores and our tech road map, notably through our partnership with Vusion and the broad deployment of AI.

Our objectives in terms of price competitiveness, market share gains and financial performance are well understood. We also recognize that expectations have now shifted from the strategy itself to its execution, and that's exactly where our focus is today. Execution has started at a high pace. Let me share a few first examples.

With the support of Concordis and the proceeds of our performance plans, we invested in our competitiveness and customers' purchasing power. We accelerated the rollout of new in-store fresh areas, fresh concessions, and we opened the first Match with a distinctive fresh offer. We pursued our expansion agenda in proximity stores, particularly in France and Spain. We deployed Vusion's AI technology with connected rails, cameras and real-time out-of-stock alerts, leading to added sales and productivity improvements in our first hypermarkets equipped. We also completed the disposals of Carrefour Romania as part of our geographical focus.

Looking at our results, we delivered a solid performance. Sales were up, thanks to good commercial dynamics and driven by a strong e-commerce. Our Clube program is meeting great success with new members enhancing traffic and fueling our data lake. Our recurring operating income is growing driven by our 3 main countries. Total net free cash flow is up versus H1 2025 and EPS is up 18%. Based on these metrics and the business trends in our core markets, we confirm all our financial targets for the year.

Looking at our performance by geography. In France and Spain, despite a volatile environment, markets held up well overall. In France, our sales were up across all formats, supported by our consistently improved price positioning and the increase of our Net Promoter Score. We also see a positive dynamic since the beginning of the summer. Former Cora stores sales were up 5% in Q2, doubling versus Q1, and we kept strong cost discipline. As a consequence, recurring operating income increased by 14% compared with the first half of 2025.

In Spain, we confirmed our positive momentum in the second quarter. We continued to invest in pricing competitiveness, we benefited from sustained growth in fresh product hypermarkets. We expanded our network of convenience stores, which continue to grow at a solid pace and confirms the relevance of the model. Profitability was up 7% in the country.

In Brazil, in the macroeconomic environment that remains complex, we recorded an improvement in sales, turning back to positive territory in Q2 2026 with encouraging momentum at the beginning of the summer. Atacadão's performance improved, notably supported by the commercial initiatives launched by our new General Manager. Our other banners held up well, and we also launched a cross-banner loyalty program to strengthen our customer ecosystem. Our profitability remained resilient with recurring operating income increasing by 6%, driven by a solid cost discipline.

In other countries, we confirmed our positive trajectory in Belgium with a return to market share gains. In Poland, the environment remained highly competitive, but we continue to reduce costs and reshape our footprint with a clear focus on our best performing stores. In Argentina, the consumer environment has been challenging, which weighted on our operating performance and on our banking activities. The new General Manager that I have appointed has reshuffled our commercial model with encouraging results as June recorded the first positive volumes since December 2023.

Overall, we look at the second half of the year with confidence. We will reinforce our positive momentum and execute our plan with consistency in the inauguration of our price competitiveness, continued acceleration on fresh with the opening of new Match fresh concept, further deployment of Vusion on our AI road map, maintain cost discipline, acceleration in store modernization to support our format, our customer experience and our long-term growth, A CSR on food transition index at 107%. At the same time, we will maintain a high level of dialogue with our investors. We will notably hold our third Capital Markets Day this year, which will be dedicated to hypermarkets on 17th of November.

Thank you for your attention. I'll now hand over to Matthieu for more details on our financial performance.

Thank you, Alexandre, and good afternoon to everyone. It's a pleasure to be with you all to cover our 2026 first half financial results in detail. Before we get into the numbers, I would like to remind you that following completion of the divestment of Carrefour Romania at the end of June, Carrefour Romania is deconsolidated as of July 1 in our accounts. For H1 2026, Carrefour's operations in Romania are accounted for as discontinued operations in accordance with the IFRS 5 accounting standard.

Let's start on Slide 5 to the presentation with the details of our Q2 sales. Total sales for the quarter reached EUR 22.7 billion. Group like-for-like sales were up 1.9% over the quarter despite high comps in Q2 '25, linked to a strong activity in France and Spain in June 2025. The scope effect had a negative contribution of minus 0.8% over the quarter, notably due to the sale of 6 hypermarkets in France as antitrust remedies following the acquisition of Cora & Match. Petrol added 1.3 percentage points to the growth and the calendar effect was a negative minus 0.6%. ForEx had a favorable impact on total sales growth of 1.1% over the quarter, essentially reflecting the appreciation of the Brazilian real. In total, reported revenue was up 2.8% in Q2.

Moving on to Slide 6 with more details on the performance of France. Activity remained dynamic in the second quarter with like-for-like sales up 1% in a market where food consumption held up well, notably in volume terms with continued growth. As was the case in Q1, all formats posted positive like-for-like sales growth in Q2. Former Cora & Match stores are accelerating their like-for-like month after month, reflecting the success of the transformation of the commercial model. They reported plus 4.6% like-for-like in Q2 after 2.6% in Q1.

Recurring operating income grew by 13.8% in the first half of the year with a margin expansion of 16 basis points, reaching 1.5% of sales. The group managed to offset its price investments as well as higher energy and transportation costs due to the crisis in the Middle East and successive heat waves, thanks to continued optimization of operational efficiency and cost reduction initiatives.

We're also satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations with Concordis. Cora & Match operating profit slightly improved over the semester, benefiting from positive volumes and the end of integration costs, but was penalized versus H1 last year by the lower margin of the Carrefour commercial model, which was implemented over the summer 2025.

Let's turn to Slide 7 with the impact of key operating initiatives of this first semester in France. Carrefour France continued to improve its price competitiveness with 3 new waves of price decreases in March, April and June, each covering more than 500 SKUs in different categories of products with an average price reduction of 8%. For the 50th anniversary of Carrefour branded products, a basket of 200 SKUs sold at cost price was also introduced, meeting great success with customers.

As a result, Carrefour hypermarkets now hold second place in terms of price positioning in France as per Nielsen's Distriprix Net index. These investments have been well perceived by consumers as reflected by a 2-point increase in NPS in France. At former Cora stores, NPS was up 15 points, reflecting the attractiveness of the new commercial model with lower prices, more promotions and extended private labels. Overall, Carrefour had a stable market share over this first semester.

Regarding the initiatives of Carrefour 2030, the rollout is unfolding as planned. We strengthened our leadership in the convenience format with 234 new stores opened in H1. We also reinforced our market share in e-commerce, both in home delivery and Click & Collect. New commercial concepts are being deployed in hypermarkets, notably dedicated fresh areas or growth verticals like parapharmacy. Three hypermarkets and 2 supermarkets were transferred to lease management. We confirm the target for the full year, 15 hypers and 40 supers. These various operating initiatives are resonating well with customers and an additional 300,000 members joined our loyalty program.

Let's move to Slide 8 with a focus on Spain, where the group experienced strong momentum in the second quarter with like-for-like sales up 2.2%. Market conditions are still supportive with positive volumes and a slight inflation. In that context, Spain delivered a solid performance in food with a 2.3% like-for-like increase in sales, notably driven by strong growth in fresh products in hypermarkets, where we maintain constant focus on quality, availability and affordability.

Over the semester, Carrefour Spain continued to invest in its customers' purchasing power with several campaigns, including unbeatable pricing and dedicated operations for members of the loyalty program, which attracted close to 500,000 new members to pass the 11 million members threshold. At the same time, customer satisfaction kept improving with NPS up 4 points in Q2. In line with its expansion plan, Carrefour Spain grew its footprint in convenience stores with 78 stores opened in H1.

Finally, e-commerce progressed well with an increase in GMV of plus 8.4% in Q2. The strong commercial momentum translated into an improvement in profitability, both in absolute terms and in percentage of sales. Overall, the first half -- over the first half, recurring operating income was up 7.3% at EUR 177 million with a 14 bps increase in operating margin to 3.3%.

Turning to Slide 9 with the performance in Brazil. High interest rates continue to weigh on consumer purchasing power. In the still complex macro and economic environment marked by negative volumes, Carrefour outperformed its market. The group recorded an improvement in sales with like-for-like turning back to positive territory at plus 0.4% with an increase of plus 0.5% at Atacadão.

The Retail segment posted a sequential improvement with hyper up plus 2.5% like-for-like. Retail like-for-like was penalized by nonfood e-commerce operations as Carrefour Brazil slowed down this activity to prioritize its profitability. The Financial Services segment performed well with a 13% increase in the credit portfolio.

Carrefour Brazil increased its recurring operating income by 5.8% over the semester to reach EUR 359 million. Margin also improved in H1 and was up 9 basis points, thanks to a well-calibrated commercial equation and strict cost discipline. In the second half of 2026, we expect to see continued stabilization in our volumes and further cost optimization.

Moving on to Slide 10 to mention a few key initiatives. Atacadão adapted its commercial model. It notably simplified its assortment to focus on the highest rotations and less the deeper promotions. It also launched the Bulnez private label brand, which now features 200 SKUs. E-commerce remained strong during the semester with a 30% increase in GMV. Consequently, Atacadão gained market share in the cash & carry format over the semester and its volumes have been stable since the beginning of the summer.

Carrefour Retail also gained market share. B2B customers keep buying more and now represents 9% of sales. In H1, we progressively deployed new concept in nonfood in the Brazilian hypermarkets, including home decor, home textile and DIY with encouraging initial impact on sales. Sam's Club also grew volumes, thanks to more active members. As announced during our Carrefour 2030 strategic plan presentation in February, we launched our new loyalty program, Nosso Clube in Brazil. With this new unified loyalty programs aimed at maximizing the ecosystem value and encouraging cross-shopping among all our formats.

Moving to the other country segment on Slide 11. Performance for the half reflects mixed situations in each market. Belgium confirmed its positive commercial momentum with a sequential acceleration in sales at plus 1.3% like-for-like in Q2 versus 0.8% in Q1, driven by positive volumes. Market share was stable in Q2. ROI was broadly stable in Belgium.

In Poland, sales were down minus 5.8% like-for-like. The environment remained competitive and consumption sluggish. The local team has implemented strict cost control and well optimized the store portfolio with the sale or closure of underperforming stores. As a result, ROI slightly improved in Poland.

In Argentina, market conditions were challenging with significant pressure on consumers' purchasing power and negative food volumes in the market. In that context, the initiatives implemented by the new management team supported a positive sales dynamic with like-for-like up by 23.5% and gradually improving volumes. Volumes eventually turned positive in June for the first time since December '23. In this context of pressure on purchasing power, negative volumes and higher cost of risk at the bank pushed ROI down in H1 in Argentina.

Moving to the top part of our global P&L on Slide 12. Gross margin was down 28 basis points in H1 due to more investment in competitiveness and the structural shift of our operating model towards franchise. SG&A expenses stood at 14.7% of sales with an improvement of 30 basis points compared to last year. The group delivered well on its cost savings plan with EUR 490 million achieved in H1. This is in line with the objective of EUR 1 billion for the full year.

All this leads to a small increase in the group's operating margin to 1.9%, driven by the 3 core countries, France, Spain and Brazil, where ROI was up plus 9% in H1. Together, they offset the decline in ROI in Argentina and a negative comparison basis in global functions. Indeed, in H1 2025, Global functions recorded a provision reversal from long-term incentive expenses and variable compensation than initially planned. This did not recur in H1 2026, where global functions is back to a level close to 2024.

Turning to Slide 13. Let's walk through the P&L items below the operating line. Nonrecurring expenses increased to EUR 165 million, a more usual level than the 2025 number, which reflected capital gains on the disposal of the stake in Carmila and real estate assets. Net cost of debt decreased significantly to EUR 121 million, reflecting the refinancing of all external debt at Carrefour Brazil, which was implemented in H2 '25.

Other financial income and expenses were a negative EUR 38 million against a high 2025 basis linked to exceptional income in Brazil as monetary adjustments on tax credits were recognized following favorable court decisions, an effect that did not recur this year. So bottom line, adjusted net income group share strongly increased by 26.8% to reach EUR 345 million. This translates into an adjusted EPS of EUR 0.49 for the first semester, up by 18.3%.

Let's now move to the key moving parts of the net free cash flow. As you can see on the right-hand side of the page, which excludes Italy. Net free cash flow is slightly down versus last year, which was minus EUR 1.922 billion in H1, excluding Italy. ForEx was a headwind of EUR 53 million linked to Brazil, explained by a stronger real against the euro on a negative free cash flow during the first half of the year. Real estate net free cash flow is also lower than last year in H1 with less divestments in H1 versus last year. Excluding these 2 technical and calendar effects, net free cash flow is up EUR 64 million. Please note that these 2 items should reverse in full year 2026 net free cash flow.

Full year ForEx is expected to be a positive on a full year positive cash flow. Real estate net free cash flow is expected to reach EUR 200 million to EUR 300 million as guided at the beginning of the year as more disposals will happen in H2. We are notably advanced on 2 sale and leaseback operations that could be announced in Q3.

Moving on to Slide 15. As you can see, we now detail the net free cash flow generation by distinguishing between cash flow generated by retail operations and that stemming from the real estate activity.

Let me highlight the key moving parts of the retail operating net free cash flow. EBITDA increased by EUR 45 million. The financial result was EUR 71 million lower against a high basis of comparison linked to the recognition of tax credits in Brazil in H1 '25. Change in working capital was down by EUR 90 million, impacted by higher inventory levels at the end of June in France. Retail CapEx were broadly stable.

This results in operating -- in retail operating net free cash flow at minus EUR 1.825 billion compared to minus EUR 1.757 billion in H1 '25. It's roughly stable if we exclude a negative currency effect from Brazil of minus EUR 46 million. Real estate net free cash flow standing at minus EUR 41 million, down versus last year due to different calendarization of real estate divestments and investments versus last year. The decrease is mainly linked to a EUR 99 million decrease in real estate disposals at EUR 39 million in H1 as 2026 divestments will happen more in H2 this year versus last year.

Finally, as already mentioned, the net cost of financial debt decreased by EUR 81 million in H1, mainly linked to the refinancing of Carrefour Brazil debt carried out in H2 '25. I will now complete this H1 financial review with a few words on net financial debt, which decreased by EUR 1.1 billion. Net debt amounts to EUR 5.8 billion on June 30, 2026.

The page being straightforward, I will just detail acquisitions and disposals that represent a positive net impact of EUR 260 million. They notably include the disposal of Carrefour Romania for approximately EUR 500 million. The group also sold stores, including 6 hypermarkets linked to the French Competition Authorities decision. These positive impacts are partly offset by the effect from the sale of Carrefour Italy for minus EUR 181 million already mentioned in February as well as other small acquisitions.

This concludes my presentation. I thank you for your attention. Alexandre and I are now available to take your questions.

We see we have the problem with the operator, I understand, the first question comes from William Woods. William, can you try talking to us.

[indiscernible].

Yes, we hear you.

Yes, we hear you.

The first one is on France. I suppose when you look at your market share performance versus what you set out in the CMD, what are you doing in order to drive more market share gains over the next couple of years? And are you happy with that performance in the last couple of months?

And then the second one is on your H1 margins are flat year-over-year. In order to get to the more than 25 bps of margin expansion, what do you see as the main drivers of the acceleration in operating profit in H2?

Thank you, William. So your first question is on the market share in France. In a nutshell, in H1, we have a stable market share, positive in Q1. And in Q2, the market share was stable. If we exclude the disposals of remedies of the acquisition of Cora. As you maybe know, we have to sell 6 hypermarkets, which were remedies from the Cora Match and Casino acquisition in 2024. And of course, it has had an effect on our market share around 14 bps points.

We remain very confident in our trajectory to reach our 25% market share target by 2030. Our market share is already positive in volume. We have made great improvements in our commercial offering. The strength of our loyalty program is constantly being reinforced. We continue and we have invested a lot in prices, which actively drives our volumes grow. You've probably seen that we are now positioned as the #2 in the French market.

And the former Cora stores are ramping up well. Following the deployment of Carrefour's commercial equation last year, these stores are now growing faster than the historical footprint and the pace of like-for-like has doubled between Q1 and Q2. So we are very confident we will be able to continue to leverage Carrefour's commercial proposition to our customer and grow organically in the next quarters.

Concerning your question on the margin. So as you understood, we are very satisfied with the performance we delivered in H1, notably driven by the steady 9% growth in recurring operating income in our 3 core country, which is consistent with our full year guidance as well with consensus for the full year. This puts us in the right position to deliver on our full year objectives and mainly the 25 bps increase in operating margin, I would say, from a business standpoint and from a financial standpoint.

From a business standpoint, I would start and Matthieu will continue. In France and Spain, the markets are positive and even dynamic in Spain. And we see this trend continuing in H2. And additionally, we had a good commercial operating dynamic, and we see it accelerate further in H2. In Brazil, in H1, we posted a good profit growth despite weak volumes this semester. And things look better for H2 with volume trends at Atacadão improving, food inflation turning a little more positive and more cost savings ahead of us.

Last, Argentina, you see was difficult in H1. We had negative volumes and increased cost of risk, but we think the worst is behind us. We are sure about that. And the new commercial policy is performing well. Volumes are back in positive territory and cost of risk stabilized. From a financial standpoint, Matthieu?

Yes. Well, from a financial standpoint, so we grew 9% recurring operating income in our 3 core countries. This pace of growth is consistent with the full year guidance and where the market consensus is for the full year.

There are maybe 3 additional points. The first one is that Cora & Match will have an acceleration of earnings in the second half. You know that the commercial model was implemented for the first time in this H1. So it did weigh on profitability. But last -- in H2, we will lap over the implementation, which occurred in the summer of '25, and we won't have any more one-offs.

Then Argentina, where we expect a better performance. And then the global functions, we had a technical element in H1, which is not expected to recur in H2. So that would be a positive factor versus the H1 dynamic.

We will now take the next question from the line of Manjari Dhar from RBC.

I just had 2, if I may. My first question is on France. I think you talked about your pricing, your 3 ways of pricing initiatives. I was just wondering, how much work is there still to do on pricing in France? And are there further investments planned? And so how quickly do you think that the price perception is improving in France for the consumer? Do you think that there is still more work to do in sort of getting the consumer to understand the work you've done on pricing?

And then my second question was on digital and AI. I just wondered if you could give some color on the learnings so far from the new technology you've deployed, the new Vusion technology. And any other insights you could give on that would be really helpful.

Thank you for your question. Your first question is about price competitiveness and the initiative we have continued to deploy. So in this semester, we continue as we are now committed to invest in our price competitiveness and to reinforce and to improve our price competitiveness. With 2 main mechanics. The first is the 3 waves of investment in national brands of 500 products each by around 10%. And the second is an operation on our private brands on 200 products at the beginning of -- at the end of February.

All that on all the other initiatives we have been taken reinforced by all we are doing in terms of promotion has enabled us to improve our positioning and to improve the index that we have communicated. We are #2 now in the French market. The conviction we have is that we are capable to fuel this price positioning and this price investment through our cost savings and the cost savings is EUR 490 million for the group on finances taken its fair share. And we will continue to do that while protecting in the same time our margin. But the elasticity of this investment is very positive and the transformation of this price positioning into a good volume dynamic in terms of volume is very strong.

Concerning Vusion, your question is very relevant because it's a very important project for us, and we are going per plan with first hypermarket equipped as of today. We have an objective this year of 50 hypermarkets with Vusion. We are now at 8 stores already being deployed with Vusion solution. Initial feedback from the stores are extremely positive.

This is, of course, a very important productivity issue for us, but it is also a data-driven model, allowing us to both exploit and monitor customer behavior both internally and externally with our suppliers, which can become a new source of income for the group. So it's a very important project. We are fully mobilized on that. And the level of conviction and the confidence we have today in this project is very strong, and we will reach our objective of 50 stores this year.

We will now take the next question from the line of Sreedhar Mahamkali from UBS.

Can I just go with 3, please? First one, it seems to me just backing out from what you're saying on France ex Cora and the Match that Cora Match losses were EUR 75 million, clearly worse than I thought and certainly a lot of other colleagues and clients are thinking. Can you explain that a bit more? And do you still think Cora & Match achieves breakeven this year, given the slightly bigger loss than in last one.

Secondly, Argentina, can you give us a sense of losses here in the first half? And what is the phasing? How should we think about Argentina contribution on a full year basis?

And third one, I think, Matthieu, you might have said it, I probably didn't hear very well. But are you saying you're comfortable with consensus expectations of just over EUR 2.3 billion for the full year?

Thank you, Sreedhar. On your Cora question, we -- you're right. We are expected -- we are where we expected to be with an improvement of EUR 5 million compared to the reported figure of H1 2025, that was minus EUR 80 million. So it means that we are minus EUR 75 million. This semester was balanced between the positive effect of the end of the one-off costs related to the integration and the negative effect of the alignment of the commercial equation to the one-off Carrefour.

What we have left the impact of the rollout of the commercial model and the one-off integration costs will be behind us, and we benefit from the continued improvement in sales and market share that you have seen in this quarter. This quarter, 2.3% at the first quarter, 4.6% at the second quarter. So there is a clear acceleration in terms of like-for-like, in terms of debit, in terms of customer satisfaction. So the dynamic is very positive. So we expect a material turnaround Match here to complete them where we see at the end of the year.

And Argentina, as you've seen, we have been suffering from 2 effects related to the macroeconomic situation. First is the decline of volume, which has been quite strong. And the second is the cost of risk, which has increased with a one-off provision. The good news, I've decided to modify the management there. We have made a reshuffle of our commercial equation. And the good news is that we have seen very quickly the first results. We are back in positive territory in terms of volume since the beginning of June. We gained market share. The relevancy of our commercial equation is now very strong. So we see H2 as an opportunity to improve the situation and the level of confidence we have is good.

And on the -- your third question, Sreedhar, so indeed, we confirm our guidance today and the recurring operating income guidance is very consistent with where the consensus is and very consistent in terms of full year growth with the growth that we deliver on our 3 core countries in H1.

Sorry, Matthieu, just to follow up on what Alexandre said. Are you still expecting Cora & Match to achieve breakeven because that's clearly is a big driver...

Again, very close to breakeven. We had these 6 stores that we have divested. There were a little bit of profit. So we'll see. But clearly, the trend is very solid. I'm not going to say again what Alexandre said very clearly, and we have a number of negatives last year that are not replicating as we are lapping over the commercial model. So significant benefits to come in the second half.

We will now take the next question from the line of Monique Pollard from Citi.

The first question I had was just on Poland. So obviously, you've managed to slightly improve the ROI in the first half despite the negative like-for-likes. Obviously, the like-for-likes also took a step down there in the 2Q. So just trying to understand if the like-for-likes continue to be disappointing for the second half of the year, whether there's enough in, I don't know, cost control, et cetera, you can do to maintain or slightly improve your ROI in that country still?

And the second question I had was on Brazil. So you obviously slowed your nonfood e-commerce to prioritize profitability sort of similar to what you had talked about in the first quarter. Just trying to understand how your online profitability now is for nonfood versus food in Brazil and whether there's still more SKU optimization that needs to be done on the nonfood side?

And then just on Argentina ROI, thank you for the comments you made earlier. But I guess what I'm trying to understand is what's the biggest driver there? Is the biggest driver of the improvement of the ROI from here, just a return to volume growth? Or how material is that sort of cost of risk starting to stabilize for the financial services business as well?

Thank you very much, Monique. So first question on Poland. So clearly, we're not satisfied with the like-for-like over there. The market is competitive. The market has been complex in Q2, but we are clearly below our objectives in terms of like-for-like. The good news is that as we did in H1, we have cost savings initiatives that can be implemented, including store closures that are loss-making. So we implemented some in H1, and we have further initiatives to come in the second half.

Brazil, so nonfood e-commerce was really a small business. Profitability was not good. It's clearly not strategic. Strategic for us is food e-commerce in Brazil, where we have a very good pace. So we decided to scale down this activity and to preserve the profitability. So it negatively impacts the like-for-like, but it's positive from a bottom line perspective. I think we commented on that in the previous quarter, and we'll probably have the same statement in Q3 as we are scaling down this business.

In Brazil -- in Argentina, your third question. So first, there's really 2 dynamics. The first one is volumes that have been negative in H1. And Alexandre said, they are back to positive in June, beginning of July is very satisfactory. And we think that it relies on the new commercial approach, which is here to stay and to amplify. So we are confident in the volume -- in the retail volume dynamic in the second half, and that has negatively impacted the profitability in H1, so more confident in the second half.

Then on the cost of risk, clearly, we've had a weakening of the portfolio due to the consumption environment in Argentina. We implemented the necessary provisions as our rules require. We see no further degradation of the cost of risk of the portfolio in Argentina. So this is to be monitored, but we think that we've taken the hit, and we are not expecting anything significant in the second half.

We will now take the next question from the line of Izabel Dobreva from Morgan Stanley.

I had a couple of questions. So going back to France, could you give us some sense of how the competitors are responding to your commercial actions and how you're seeing the environment more broadly? Because, of course, you are putting through quite substantial price investments into the market. So are you seeing any response at the moment? And if not, why do you think that is the case?

And then I have a few technical questions. Could you help us understand the outlook for the financial expense line for the year, given all of the self-help measures?

And then just to come back on one of the comments which were made on the call that the full year guidance is very consistent with where consensus is. Could you just help us understand which consensus, so is that the EUR 2.3 billion consensus for EBIT just because different providers have different numbers. So I wasn't sure which consensus number you exactly you were referencing.

Thank you, Izabel, for your question. We see the French market as behaving in a rational way. There are some competitors that are in difficulties, as you know, the free independents are well in the market. But when you analyze what has been happening in the last 2 years in the price competition, I think we can say without any doubt that the most significant point is the strong repositioning of Carrefour. We were #4. We are #2. We have a series of initiatives on everyday price and promotion on our Clube with 14 million of subscribers.

We are very modest on that. We are not price leader at all, and that's not our objective. And we continue to be -- to have a lot of humility on that. But our conviction is that this price investment is working well. It triggers a good level of growth in terms of volume. We are gaining customers big time. And so we will continue to do that.

On the rest of the market, they are doing their job, of course, they are in the market, but we don't see any particular new initiatives in the French market, except the Carrefour repositioning for the last 2 years. Matthieu?

Yes. On your second question relating to the financial expenses. So it really unfolds as we had expected. So we refinanced the debt in Brazil over the course of the second half last year. So we had a little bit of savings last year, I think, in the magnitude of EUR 20 million. This year -- this semester H1, we have EUR 80 million of improvement. And we anticipate further savings in H2 as the refinancing happened over the course of the second half last year. We expect we'll have a full semester effect in H2. And so can expect more savings there. So really unfolding as planned. And then for '27, that would be behind us.

On your third question relating to the consensus, so we never point to a specific number. So I'm not going to do that tonight. The message is we confirm our guidance of -- on all our financial guidance, including the one to increase our operating margin by 25 basis points.

We will now take the next question from the line of Geoffroy Michalet from ODDO BHF.

I have 3 questions. First one on the other cost line. In H1, it was similar to H1 '24. In H2, should we expect it to be similar in H2 '24? First question.

Second question, more generally speaking, do you expect the presidential election to have an impact on the behavior of customers in France?

And third and last question, on the strategic review, are you still open to divestments?

So on your first question on global functions, I think you have the good reading, Geoffroy. So we've had a specific in H1 last year. So this year is back to normal and so consistent with 2024 H1, which was a normal level. And we expect the same in H2 '26. So global functions to be at the same level as what we had in H2 '24.

On your question of the impact of the presidential campaign on the consumption. The vision we have since the beginning of the year and we were not numerous to think exactly that, but the level of resilience of the French customers is very strong. You've seen that we have not seen any material impact of the geopolitical crisis on the level of consumptions. Volumes are positive, not big time positive, but positive and very constant. And so we think that the French customers is now adapted to the climate of, I would say, different type of crisis, geopolitical climate and so on and that the resilience is very strong and exactly what we see in the figures of this first semester.

And my conviction is that it would be the same with both the political instability we have been facing for 1 year. As you know, we have been facing quite a high level of political instability with debate on budget on fiscality and so on. And we have seen no impact of the consumption sort of difference of the French customers to the debate. And we don't think that the political -- the presidential campaign would have a different impact.

Your third question is about where we are on the disposals. We are exactly at the same point on July on the 17th of February. We have 3 core countries where we concentrate attention and investment. And we have 3 other countries where the priority and the focus is the improvement of the operations and the improvement of the operational excellence and the results. It's what we are doing in Poland, in Argentina with good effects since June and in Belgium, and we are exactly there, and we will continue to do that. Nothing has changed.

We will now take the next question from the line of François Digard from Kepler Cheuvreux.

The first is about your price positioning. You referred to #2 position. Could you tell us across which formats this price position applies? Is it only hypermarkets or across all formats?

Second question is about your operating profit. So for the core countries, the result in H1 is above consensus expectations, but ROI in the noncore countries is weaker. Could you give us your view for the year on the contribution from these countries compared with last year, so really year-on-year for noncore countries?

And the same question for nonrecurring expenses. I understand the Carmila base effect, but not the remaining expenses are recurring as these nonrecurring expenses, if I can say so.

I'll just take the first and be very quick. The price positioning is related to our positioning on hypermarkets. Matthieu, distribution of the rest of the year.

Yes. So as far as the operating profit is concerned, so you're right. If you look at it by segment, we're exactly where consensus is, except for the global functions where we have a EUR 20 million gap due to the technical effect that I mentioned, which was probably not well anticipated by the Street. But as far as the rest of the more operational perimeters, including the other countries, we're really reaching the consensus for the first half.

So -- what's the outlook for the other countries for the second half? You understood. We think we have a strong dynamic -- commercial dynamic and operating dynamic in Belgium. We still have a reservoir of cost savings to potentially absorb further decline in sales in Poland. And I think as far as Argentina, I've answered in the previous question, better volume dynamic and more confidence on the financial services side.

On the nonrecurring expenses, so each year, we have nonrecurring expenses, which include some restructuring expenses. We have a number of restructuring plans happening in the group, some write-offs here or there, including some goodwill write-off at some point. So my comment was mainly to say that there's a gap versus last year. I think it's more last year, which was unusual because we had a heavy number of real estate divestments where we had capital gain. So we had significant capital gain last year in H1. And we also had a capital gain on the divestment of the Carmila stake, which was also quite unusual. The rest, you have all the details in the financial statement, Francois is the same topics as we have regularly.

We will now take the next question from the line of Rob Joyce from BNP Paribas.

I've got 3. Just on the Cora & Match losses, EUR 75 million. I guess we're kind of running at nearly EUR 200 million now across the last 18 months in terms of underlying losses. Was that really the plan? And can you -- what assurances can you give us that we're not going to be hearing 7 months' time talking about Cora & Match losses again. That would be really helpful just to help us understand the trajectory there.

The second one is just in terms of the price investments ongoing in France, moved from 4 to 2. But I think the people you've overtaken are still taking share. What do we need to do more price investments? Or how do we get the market share accelerating on the trajectory it needs to be on to reach that 2030 target?

And then the third one, sorry, a technical one, but just I think the finance costs are quite important to people in terms of the EPS bridge. The Brazilian tax credit adjustments you mentioned in 2025, were they included in underlying finance costs last year? And what are the EUR 50-or-so million costs I can see reversed out of the finance costs in '26 in the bridge to underlying?

So as we said on Cora & Match, we're really in line with our plan. When you mentioned EUR 180 million or EUR 200 million plus, that includes all the one-offs that we had last year. I think we've commented on them. I think the good news is that all the integration process is behind us that includes the cost one-off -- the one-off cost and also the cost of the new commercial model, which is the Carrefour commercial model, which is indeed much more commercially intense for customers for their benefit, which has a cost in terms of P&L.

The good news is that sales are accelerating, as we said. We have strong ambition for sales in the second half of the year because we know that historical last year were perturbated by the implementation of this commercial model. No more one-offs and then this costly commercial model is lapping over the implementation last year. So now we have more volumes kicking into the model, and that's pretty much it. So now stores need to keep ramping up. We still have a significant gap in terms of sales per square meter versus comparable Carrefour stores. So we think that the good dynamic that we have can take us for some time.

So on your third question, which was very technical, but I think what I got is that last year, we won a case against the Brazilian tax authorities where we could recognize and monetize a monetary correction, so interest basically on some tax credits that we had vis-a-vis the tax authorities. And we crystallized these credits, and we crystallized the monetary adjustment. And so it was recorded. It was cash in. And this year, it is not happening again. So we are back to a more normal situation.

Yes. On your question on price investment. So I think that's the point which is difficult to contest is the fact that the price investments have triggered off the last 3 years, a positive effect on the market share of Carrefour particularly in volume but also in value. So it's a constant effect and positive effect when you reposition Carrefour as we have done, you have elasticity in terms of volumes and you gain market share. It doesn't signify that it's possible to gain market share at every period because sometimes you have particular points.

That was the case after the Pay 5 in France, and we gained market share from the Pay 1 to Pay 4. And at the Pay 5, we have the effect of the sales of 6 hypermarkets. You know well retail, so you measure what is the revenue of 6 hypermarkets. And so it has a negative impact around 14 bp points. So that was the case for [indiscernible] on PC. But the most important is that the dynamic is very positive. We have seen also the impact of the recent -- the last wave of reinvestment has triggered off an increase in market share in volume during the PC. So it's a virtuous circle that we will continue.

We will now take our last question from the line of Xavier Le Mené from Bank of America Securities.

I will try to be brief. The first one, can you comment a bit the nonfood performance in France and you stated at your strategic plan that you're going to change the way you offer nonfood to be potentially more seasonal. So can you elaborate a bit more where you are with that plan given the overall performance we've seen in France for nonfood for the market?

The second one, you were commenting the gross margin and the impact you've got with the mix with franchise. So arguably, it's a negative on the gross margin, but it should be a positive on the operating profit. So any color you can provide here on the impact of franchising the store?

Yes, I'll start, Xavier. Thank you for your questions. Well, that's the case, the switch -- that's why we keep switching stores to the franchise model because at the end of the day, it's positive on the bottom line. It changed, as you know, the role that we have and so the structure of the P&L. We act more as a wholesaler when we have franchisees. So we have a much smaller gross margin, but obviously, most of the operating costs are transferred. So it has a negative effect on the gross margin rate. It has a positive effect on the cost side. And the net of all that is a positive. So that's why we keep implementing it.

On the nonfood, we continue to transform the model, taking a new strong initiative. We have developed parapharmacy and with very good results, and we are scaling that in the hypermarket. In the new category, we are very pleased with the pet food and all the new universe that we are developing. We are stronger and stronger on the sport territory. So we clearly see that there are new categories in which we take position. All in all, you've seen that the result is minus 2% this semester.

You've probably seen the performance of a certain number of players in nonfood with huge level of difficulties. It means that we are gaining market share for the first time with this level of amplitude. I would say, both in front of our competitors, but also on a certain number of specialized retailers. It doesn't signify that we are where I wanted us to be. We still have a lot of room to be more performance and to regain a high level of commercial attractiveness. But we are on the good road. And I think that the future could be more positive on nonfood because we have taken the good initiatives, and we have the good vision about where we should be for our customers.

Thank you. Thank you for this session. We wish you a happy holiday if you have time to and enjoy and talk to you in the next days and weeks. Thank you. Thank you so much.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

[Interpreted] Good morning, everyone. Very happy to be with you here this morning for this Investor Day dedicated to CSR strategy of Carrefour, as I was committed to in the presentation of the Carrefour 2030 in this same auditorium in February. If we wanted to dedicate a morning to this to deep dive into these commitments, it's because we're convinced of one thing, CSR is a decisive factor of creating value for us. It improves our risk profile, it beefs up our resilience, it attracts new customers, it gets our workers on board and it values and protects our brand.

CSR is not just talking the talk or a conformity button. It's a driver for differentiating us from our competitors and for creating wealth. This is why I want to put this in the successive strategic plans that I've defined for the group. I assume this consistency and the continuity, which I started in 2018 with the launch of our program, Act for Food, which talks about the food transition for everyone in our shops, in our digital initiatives, in our marketing.

At the time, the subjects that we were dealing with were emerging, like bio, like Carrefour quality programs and to occupy the space that they occupy currently in public debate. We have been the first to have transition. This is a very resolutely modern word for our organization, the guiding principle of our action. The climate, social and our ambitions for the transition has never left Carrefour. In fact, it is at the heart of our Act for Food in 2018. It has structured our strategic plan for 2022, and it's more than ever today at the center of Carrefour's plan for 2030.

This is the guiding principle that we want to share with you this morning. Carine Kraus, who's going to present the program for this morning, but I just want to share my commitments with you beforehand and my beliefs. CSR is a pragmatic policy and an operational policy. It is supposed to act and respond decisively to the stakes that we're facing and to help us improve our value chain from the farm to the shop to the plate, going through our logistics. It is the part of the DNA in Carrefour, which is a group which is focused on the field and simple and efficient solutions.

Our approach is based on 3 key stakes for our group, the climate, biodiversity and natural resources and health. Let's start talking about climate. In 2018, when we launched the Act for Food program, just after the Paris Agreement, it seemed obvious to me that a group of the size of Carrefour had a special responsibility in fighting against climate change. The climate is the fight of my generation as a director of a company. It's the one that's going to have the most impact on the longevity of our activities and it's what's most awaited by the younger generations.

We've decided to act swiftly and early because to anticipate the transition to a low-carbon model is more efficient than to be subjected to it. And we're going to undergo a deep transition of our model to rise to the climate-associated challenges. Our shops and our warehouses and our activities, the results are there. We have attained our targets for reducing emissions with 5 years in advance, and we have greened up our energy mix. That is important. It's for EUR 100 million a year between 2022 and 2030, which are going to enable us to secure our consumption of energy of our shops and warehouses and to increase the share of renewable energies.

This determines a winning economic strategy in the current context to use less energy. This means that you're emitting less CO2, but it's also to protect oneself considerably from the increase of energy prices. But we also know that the principal challenge for a food distributor is our indirect emissions, our Scope 3, which represents more than 98% of our total emissions.

Carrefour launched in 2022, an initiative, which is the top 10 -- Top 100 suppliers, which enables us to get our main suppliers to decarbonize as well. And to be sold in our stores after 2026, our 100 biggest suppliers have got to prove to us that they're also committed to the 1.5 trajectory. They were 27% to -- at the end of 2022 to comply with this obligation. Now they're at 87% to be aligned with this policy. Today, when we look at the Carrefour plan for 2033, we're going to roll this out for our 150 biggest suppliers.

In parallel with our action against climate change, we are resolutely committed in favor of protection of biodiversity and natural resources. One of our main fights is to fight against deforestation in Brazil, a major subject that we're going to talk about again this morning and which is an international, which we've -- and we've been involved in the Forest Positive Consumer Goods Forum, and we've presented this for several years. Carrefour has made an early start with fighting against plastic pollution. Three years before the law came in, in France, we got rid of all our plastic packaging for fruit and veg.

We have brought in deposits, and we've reduced plastic by 25,000 tonnes since our Act for Food program. The subject has become more important because plastics become even more expensive after the conflict in the Middle East. We've decided to go even further with an initiative. We're going to get rid of 5,000 additional tonnes of plastic by removing plastic blisters from promotional goods and number -- and increase our references from 100 to 1,000 that have the proper packaging. And we're going to get our clients on board to see this rolled out in practical terms in our shops, because we know that plastic is one of the main irritants when it comes to waste from our shops, but it's also going to help our customers' buying power.

We're going to apply all our savings from EUR 5 million from the saving of plastics, we're going to apply to lowering prices of our products in shops. Carrefour is always early when it comes to CSR. And once again, we're proving this with this new commitment, less plastic and more buying power for our customers. Health through food is the third key pillar of our strategy.

Food is shaken up by a lot of new trends, a lot of new medicines, the fight against obesity and transformation in the United States, in particular, guiding us towards healthy, less fatty, less sugary, less salty foods. And our customers are more focused on wellbeing and sporting foods, in particular, all hyper protein bar like Skyr or to change our product ranges. And so like people are legitimately afraid of some foods when we -- especially when we're talking about ultra-processed foods, for example. And this is going to open up new segments of markets for us. We're a precursor for these subjects when we're looking at food -- health through food.

We're going to roll out the Nutri-Score further for all of our own products and eligible brands. And we're going to impose it on our suppliers as well. Otherwise, we're going to do it, and we're going to publish it on our e-commerce site instead of them. We have reduced tonnes of salt and sugar in our own brands. And we've got rid of 120 controversial substances, which are potentially carcinogenic like aspartame in our products.

We've decided to go even further with our Carrefour plan for 2030. We're now going to fight against ultra-processed foods, and we're going to have our Carrefour products only with simple products and with no markers that show that it's ultra processed. And 50% of our turnover in 2030 is going to be composed of more healthy foods. And that's one out of -- 50% of our products sold on our shelves will be a balanced food product.

Before these very solid commitments, this method is also very important in our approach. An efficient CSR strategy is got to be rolled out by all of the company, and it's got to be associated with robust governance, which is based on management and all of our shops.

I am very happy that Patricia Lemoine, who's a member of the Board, who's here; Marie-Laure Sauty de Chalon, who's a Board member; Claudia Almeida, President of the CSR Committee; and Sylvie Dubois and another Board member representing the employees are with us all today. Their presence here shows the importance that our Board tributes to these subjects, and it guides our decisions, and the Board members will tell you more about this afterwards. And we're going to have a dedicated organization with a commitment department that I set up in 2022, which is at the ComEx department, which is going to work on all these subjects.

This direction is guiding all of the initiatives of our company, and we make sure that they're properly performed and rolled out in integrated countries like our franchise countries. They are based on the CSR index, which by being integrated in the variable pay scale, it's a fantastic way of bringing about the CSR initiatives. The success of our initiatives rests on the adoption of our customers on the ground with the visibility in our shops, which conditions the success with our customers.

We've got signage for bio, for plant-based foods and for healthy foods. We show you where the promotional is for the Veganuary, the solidarity consumption month and the plastic challenge. We regularly consult our customers to see if they can see our CSR initiatives in the shops, practical terms. This is the reason for which we want to get you here today and bring you to a Carrefour shop today. This is not a flagship. It's not a shop that's been set up just for this occasion. It's just a daily shop going about its daily business.

You can see how it rolls out on our shelves, in our operational practices and in our customer experience. These practical initiatives and a method and finally, a personal belief. Even more than for other subjects, the CSR policy has got to be incarnated all over the company to deploy CSR initiatives. It's to shake up our habits to change our ways of operating to take risks on new ways of consuming to accept -- and to accept the errors of the past. And we have got to be very invested in all CSR subjects.

We sometimes ask which is the CSR project that I'm the most proud of in Carrefour. This is the initiative, like the 100 suppliers, which is a real game changers for the retail business. I could also say that I'm proud of our commitments in terms of diversity and inclusion, which enables us to change the daily lives of thousands of workers. And women with endometriosis, we recognize this for the first time in the work area. And to the inclusion of our disabled colleagues. And there's now 15,000 of us now within Carrefour, but some initiatives are more visible than others.

What is motivating us at the end of the day is -- and we've got to do this in spite of negative headwinds. You know the way that things are going on today in the international field. You know how things are going for CSR. Some people in the United States stopped their CSR policy immediately, even those who claim they were doing it for the long term. Others tried to find a medium way by greenwashing, where you continue to roll out CSR policy, but without communicating on the initiatives in order not to upset the powers that be.

Let me tell you that I don't believe in this approach. Greenwashing is not a strategy. It's a form of abandonment. In terms of CSR, we cannot -- you can't keep all of this for yourself. And which I'm proud of in Carrefour is this constant commitment to these initiatives over time, which are going to allow us to have an impact over time, an impact which is real. This is what I wanted to tell you in this introduction.

I'm going to give the floor now to Marie-Laure Sauty de Chalon, who is our Board member and who's going to say how CSR is integrated in governance. Thank you.

[Interpreted] Good morning, everyone. I'm delighted to be here this morning with you and to tell you -- give you some behind-the-scenes details from the Board. And it's interesting. I'm just going to bring you behind the scenes to explain to you that governance and that environmental and social stakes is a central subject in Carrefour at all levels.

As Alexandre said, and especially for the Board. Of course, this supervision is carried out by a CSR Board, and Claudia is going to talk to you about this. She's the staff representative on the Board, which examined the ambitions and all the stakes involved, and its role is to analyze the main directions before the presentation to the Board. So we follow up regular topics like reduction of greenhouse gases, the food transition and sustainable foods, as Alexandre said, and diversity, relations with suppliers, due diligence and human rights.

We talked quickly about climate neutrality or carbon neutrality and these goals. We follow this up through these indicators, which are presented to the government bodies. We also fight against food waste. And for us, this is a very important item that we follow up through the systems like food donations or intelligent markings or working with associations in order to fight against food waste. And we talk with the CSR and the Board -- commission under the Board about this. We're also very committed to the company.

When we've got -- so like when we're talking about the Indian Ocean tuna or other initiatives, we have an immediate response to this, and I'd like to thank my teams for this because we've got an incredible fluidity, which means that by the end of the day, the Board have got the answer that I can give them. So we consider that this is really a very important issue, but it's not just for CSR.

For example, when we've got cybersecurity attacks in the post, for example, we've got answers for the members of the Board immediately. So this is crucial. This is a major strategic access for us, and we follow up the development of certified products or organic foods or plant-based foods, which are indicators that are very important for governments. We want to find out what the consumers' expectations are without increasing the impact on the environment of our foods. We also evaluate the risks for the group and our impact on the climate for natural resources. And these are risks come for the company, and we want to beef up our approach.

We've got this CSR food transition approach, which enables us to measure progress and enables us to monitor things for all of the stakeholders. Our approach concerning the sustainability, this is associated with all our risk management approaches. And we've got this central supervision with the Risk Committee, but also with the Audit Committee, which I have the honor of presiding. So this is an important place in this mechanism because I'm the contact person for independent administration. So I make sure that the governance functions properly.

There's a lot of evaluation. There's a lot of work. And I would like to thank the Board members, and I can also facilitate discussions between the Board and shareholders on strategic issues like sustainability or risk management. As President of the Audit Committee, we have to deal with several CSR items like the quality of extra financial data and other issues, which are also controlled in our financial data. The Audit Committee also examines the reliability of CSR indicators published by the group, the internal controlling mechanism and the main risks that could affect the long-term performance of the group with our statutory auditors. This is an approach that we do with the committee, with the CSRD and our due diligence in our food supply chain.

And this is done by the CSR and the audit committees so we can cross our ambitions, strategic and financial items. If we look at carbon emissions, the CSR Committee looked at the carbon pathway, whereas the Audit Committee is going to make sure that the data that's published is robust and that the processes are high quality. In that way, the Board has an exhaustive and complete visions before it takes its decisions. This organization illustrates the governance of our company.

The stakes are not treated as separate. They are integrated in the control mechanisms of risk management and the creation of value in the same way as financial -- traditional financial data. We can see the best governance practice. This isn't the existence of a CSR. This is the capacity of the Board, of the Audit Committee and the other committees to work together to integrate the CSR items in all of our strategic decisions. And I think like Alexandre, in a context where CSR criteria are influencing investors, we've got to beef up the capacity of the Board to supervise these items. I think this is a decisive factor for trust and sustainable performance. And I hope that you're sensitive and aware of this issue. Thank you.

[Interpreted] Thank you, and good morning, everyone. I'm Carine Kraus. I'm the Commitment Director, and I just wanted to -- before we get into the nitty-gritty, I just wanted to bring you through the agenda for this morning. As you've heard Alexandre and Marie-Laure, we're now going to show you our CSR strategy through 3 main subjects: the climate, biodiversity and the supply chain and health. And for about 40, 45 minutes, we are then -- Claudia, who's the President of the CSR Committee, is going to talk to you before we've got a Q&A session altogether about the different subjects and questions that you may have. We then -- this is the special part of this morning. We're going to go and visit a Carrefour store. This is going to be a CSR visit, and we're going to bring you in a bus, and we're going to bring you back here for 13:45 for the end of this meeting. We're going to have lunch over there with the CSR debate. So this is the agenda for this morning, which is dedicated to our CSR strategy, which we wanted to develop around 3 main points.

We want our CSR strategy to create value if it's able to anticipate risk, and this is what we wanted to show you this morning to secure this, to secure our model and we're going to see what the items that can be opportunities to help us create value. We consider that there's a series of transformations that you know perfectly from the world food system. There's the stakes that are environmental, society related or regulatory, the transformation of customer expectations and all of these transformations create risk for the company model. But this can also be a source of opportunity if we know how to seize those opportunities.

Climate, for example, is a major subject, which sort of like can be a risk for some of our agricultural sectors, but it can also be an opportunity for companies who know how to secure the supplies and who know how to master the energy costs. And when you've got our health and our transparency and our customer expectations and to be closer to our customers, this can create risks for companies that don't know how to approach these risks, but it can create new growth opportunities for health sectors through food. Carrefour's answer, you know this. This is a food transition for everyone. This is our guiding principle.

We've got to guarantee quality food, which is affordable for everyone and which is sustainable and respectful of resources and the planet. This we're contributing with the CSR team to this to a whole series of actions, a lot of action. Today, we've decided to focus on 3 main actions, which are the guiding principle of our presentation. Climate, of course, which is -- means anticipating a model and a low-carbon world and to see how we can create new opportunities for some market sectors like vegetable-based proteins, biodiversity and supply chains, which, as you know, this is a risk associated subject for our suppliers, but can create development potential for everything which is organic or regenerative agriculture and health, which is the key subject for tomorrow in terms of customer demand and to help progress our turnover.

These are the 3 subjects that we're going to present to you this morning. If we start by the key subject, which is climate, why climate? Why is it a central issue? Well this is a very significant issue for Carrefour. We produce 94 million tonnes of carbon a year. It's about the same equivalent as a country like Belgium. And so for a food distributor, this -- our Scope 3 incorporates all the emissions of all our products that we sell in our stores. And so our Scope 3 is much heavier than the Scope 3 of a lot of other industrial actors. For example, Scope 3 represents about 98% and 99% of all our carbon emissions for an average of about 70%, 75% of another industrialist in this sector. So this is why Carrefour has been getting involved in climate issues for a long time.

We've got a robust climate approach because we've seen that the timeframe is very important if we want to be credible. So from 2007, practically 20 years ago, Carrefour published its carbon footprint under the GHG protocol. In 2010, we had our first objectives and goals for carbon reduction. And as Alexandre said, the 3 strategic plans of Carrefour 2018, '20 and '21, this has helped us, whether it be Act for Food with our top 100 suppliers mechanism or the other mechanisms, which we're going to show you today, which is Carrefour 2030.

These are long-term commitments, which are going to show us how to integrate climate dimensions, Scope 1 and Scope 2, which only represent 1% or 2% of our overall emissions, but which is key. And like all of our industrial actors, we need to act on our direct emissions, which are produced by our shops, by our headquarters, by our warehouses. And we're doing this because this is extremely visible for our customers. So we've worked on Scope 1 and 2. We're acting a little on Scope 3 because this is where most of our emissions are. And we're also acting for the adaptation to climate change because even if Carrefour is very involved, we know that the planet is heating up and which is grinding forward, and we've got to adapting consequently.

So if we get into most of the detail, look at our ambitions for Scope 1 and 2, which are our stores and our warehouses. We've got a pathway, which is 1.5 degrees, which has been approved by SBTi and ADEME. And we aim to reducing our emissions by 60% by 2030. By the end of 2025, we attained minus 57%. So we've already got there in 2025, practically. This is due to the collective efforts done by all of our teams for the action that we can -- for all the action that we can do in our stores, EUR 200 million CapEx per year for energy associated topics. You can see this in our stores. We try to reduce our energy consumption of our stores, the transformation of our cooling systems and with natural fluids and to have green energy.

This all brings us to attain our goals. And we've got operational performance levers because if you reduce our volume of energy consumption, you pay less, so you make savings and the cost is controlled for these, especially in the current context when price -- energy prices are increasing. So these are our Scope 1 and 2 emissions, and I'm going to show you a video about what this means in practical terms for our stores.

[Presentation]

So there you have it about our Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Of course, then we also have to act on our Scope 3 emissions, which make a significant contribution to our carbon emissions. So we've identified what makes up our Scope 3 emissions. So it's actually linked to our actually procuring all our goods and services. So what you can find in your shops. SBTi is important for us. We want everything to be science-based and fully signed off on by a third party. So we want to make minus 49% target.

So that's for the Scope 3 emissions. And now I'm going to tell you more specifically about 3 levers that we want to play on. So our suppliers, development of plant-based alternatives and the last lever is to fight against waste and plastics to really cut our plastic conditioning, et cetera. So the top 100 supplier initiatives that Alexandre Bompard actually announced in our 2022 plan. So all our are multinational companies. So we consider that they have a wherewithal to actually help us act. So by 2026, if they haven't acted on these initiatives, they will no longer be our partners. It is a very important decision that we've made because it has a major impact on our carbon footprint, and it really made a contribution because our suppliers who have actually embraced our 1.5-degree strategy now feature a lot more highly amongst our partners. So this sort of threat that we've actually leveraged has really borne fruit.

So David Kennedy, the Head of SBTi will tell you more about that.

I just wanted to take a minute to celebrate Carrefour, setting new science-based targets. So you are one of the first adopters of the science-based targets framework. You have been doing great work to reduce emissions, important to continue that journey. And so I think it's a really positive milestone that you have set targets now for the next phase.

A second thing I want to draw attention to, particularly important for a retailer like Carrefour, where most emissions are in supply chain is the work you're doing with suppliers and the commitment you've made that your top 100 suppliers should become science-based as well. So commit to 1.5-degree aligned targets. So a lot to celebrate there. I think the hard work continues of implementation. So setting targets is great, but it's all about implementation. We stand ready to be an implementation partner here at SBTi. That is our new strategic approach. So again, well done and look forward to our continued working together.

[Interpreted] So as you may have gathered, we put at really at the center a capacity to really have a conversation with our suppliers to meet our targets, but we also want to have a collaborative approach with our suppliers to benefit from their support and to actually co-produce a pathway. That is then made visible in our stores. So those are agreements where we actually commit jointly on the same pathway. So that's, for example, what we've done with Coca-Cola. So the Coca-Cola CEO came to Paris to sign that agreement with us. It's highly innovative. So the pack of 6 bottles, up until now, you had a plastic blister. That represented tonnes of plastic. And Coca-Cola actually made a major R&D effort to work on conditioning that keeps the bottles together without using plastics.

So that was our joint effort. So in terms of the R&D and innovation, Coca-Cola really used all their firepower and, on our side, we used our expertise in logistics and our capacity to test these packs in stores, check that it resists manual handling. We have to promote them. We have to explain it to our customers because at first, they might not realize that it's the same pack of 6 as before, and that has helped us really decarbonize massively.

So with L'Oreal, the commitment is that 20% of shampoo and shower gel assortment in refill -- should be available in refill format by 2030. So again, we've actually made the most of L'Oreal's capacity of innovation and our capacity to really, well, turn it into actual initiatives visible in our stores. With Mondelez, so looking at frozen products and so that was for McCain, sorry, on scaling regenerative agriculture. And we've signed 100 agreements, and our target is to sign 200 of those joint agreements by 2027.

So another lever is plant-based alternatives between a stake of red meat and a chickpea-based stake really it translates into major decarbonization. And you have actually 30% of households that have flexitarians amongst them, so it's a real trend on the market, a massive trend. And to us, it gives us an opportunity to actually work on decarbonization whilst being attractive to our consumers. So it's an objective that we really are confident about because we've seen actually a massive increase in terms of our sales, EUR 664 million. That's a 90% growth over 3 years, 1,350 plant-based products SKUs.

And Carrefour-branded products are really a good alternative for our consumers because their prices are very attractive. And we will actually show you these products in store during our tour later on, and you'll see all the signposting and the conditioning. We want to also speed up our fight against food waste.

And if we actually look at China and the U.S. in terms of CO2 emission reduction, well, Carrefour has, for a very long time, decided to really combat food waste, minus 51% food waste versus 2016. So from upstream to downstream, we will actually present that to you in details in the store. So we have to rethink our orders. We have to also, for expired products, sell them at attractive prices. We have a Too Good to Go initiative and donations to the charity sector and also recycling this waste. So we're very confident that we can meet our targets.

Our target is 60% reduction in food waste by 2030 versus 2016. We've invested in AI as an accelerator, makes it easier for us to be better at order forecasting, ordering the right quantity and also it makes us better at smart discount. Sometimes it's difficult for our teams to decide what the discount rates should be for each product. So thanks to AI, we've made significant progress, and that should make it possible for us to do even better to fight food waste.

So that was a quick overview of our environmental policies that makes it possible for us to really show how well we're doing in any benchmark exercise in terms of climate action. So we actually are amongst the more advanced companies. We are in the top 5 in terms of MSCI. And we also had the first BDO study on how we applied the CSRD directive. So looking at all the KPIs and Carrefour ranked first in Europe, thanks to its climate policy. And that climate policy is also very important.

Finally, for us in terms of sustainable finance and our manager here being responsible for that. So EUR 7 billion emissions are linked to CSR with a very good subscription rate that goes to show how determined and credible we are. So this is what I wanted to tell you on our climate action. We think we've really become a lot more mature, and we want to do the same on the other themes. So around our -- the different aspects of our business model, so supply chains and biodiversity are very important as well. So in terms of natural resources and supply chains, of course, needless to say, it's a critical resilience issue.

Our farming upstream is very important. And 94% of our biodiversity impact is not linked to our sites, but linked to food production, to our supply chain. So we've decided on deploying a 3-step strategy. First, anticipating risks across value chain so as to be able to secure them. So we have to strengthen our governance. And we have to see how we can generate value. And we have a risk mapping. I'm sure you're all familiar with it. So it is a very important assessment that we carry out in-house, not only in the CSR department, but throughout all our departments and operational teams.

It's very intense work and very collaborative. So it's presented to the CSR Committee, but also to the Board, and it's published in our different documents. And this is really the compass we want to keep in mind to steer the right course. And all the risks that you see top right that are the main risks for Carrefour are the ones we are talking to you about linked to climate, biodiversity and supply chains.

So concretely speaking, to give you some examples of what we do and implement in our value chains, human rights are absolutely at the center of everything we do. So with all our suppliers and notably in Southeast Asia, we have ethics charters that include all the regulations that they have to abide by in terms of human rights, decent remuneration.

And on that basis, we have a 3-step protocol or mechanism. So 100% of factories located in high-risk countries are audited. That represents 1,800 audits carried out every year, and we actually publish it in our reporting and our reference document every year. And of course, it can lead us to make the decision to stop working with these factories. We have strict -- we also have made the possibility through our Worker Voice initiative, to collect feedback from any workers synonymously in India and Bangladesh. And we also have a Sentinel, digital monitoring to detect upstream controversies so that we can act upon any red flags or alarms that are raised.

So biodiversity ranks very highly on our agenda. We've started publishing our biodiversity footprint. I think that's quite unique. If you look at the CAC 40 companies, we're amongst the very few who have decided to publish. Well, to first actually calculate our biodiversity and footprint and to publish it. So we have looked at sustainable products. So of course, organic products, all the that are produced through regenerative farming and sustainable forestry, sustainable fishing.

Our objective is very ambitious, is to go over EUR 8 billion -- EUR 8.5 billion in certified sustainable product sales by 2030. We're currently at EUR 7.5 billion in certified sustainable product sales, and that represents a growth of 42% in 2 years. So extremely important for our planet, but also a way of actually catering to our consumers and meeting their expectations.

There's also the problem of high-risk raw materials, soy, cocoa, beef. So today, we decided to tell you more about beef because this is really symbolic of the problems we can have in our supply chains and how we tackle these problems. Beef is symbolic because in Brazil, it is linked to deforestation. When a Brazilian farmer extends the surface area of their land, they can contribute to deforestation. It's a matter of traceability as well. Our customers want to know where the beef comes from. So they want traceability, and it is a matter of trust with Carrefour.

And it's also a matter of actually respecting human rights and the rights of indigenous peoples. So at the end of 2022, our objective was to have zero deforestation in Brazil, and we've actually made that objective, we met that objective in 2025. Our national -- our private label products have also been targeted at first. And we have Carlos Nobre, a peace -- Nobel Prize winner being sitting on a committee with different members.

But let's look at a video that will actually speak volumes. Pablo Lorenzo will tell you more about that -- and you will also be introduced to the NGO that now considers that we're exemplary in our fight against deforestation.

[Interpreted] Hello. I'm Pablo Lorenzo. I'm the CEO of Carrefour Brazil. Brazil is one of those that really play a critical role in supply chains, but we're also one of the most exposed to deforestation in the animal protein industry. But at Carrefour, we really look at it as a strategic priority. So we have an approach based on traceability, technology and governance. We actually look at 100% of cattle forms that are part of our beef production, and we control on all of them lot by lot. We look at tax bills, but also geomonitoring. We look at satellite imaging and geospatial imagery. And we analyze it all. And if there's any noncompliance, we block that farm immediately, so down to the slaughterhouse.

In 2025, we've analyzed more than 38,000 farms and less than 2.5% needed to be blocked. We know that the main challenge is in the indirect supply chain, which is why we foster this dialogue so as to expand traceability end-to-end. That work is really supported by robust governance, including a Forest Compose Committee.

[Presentation]

[Interpreted] And finally, our last topic in terms of supply chain, animal wellbeing, which is something that our customers expect from us, and it also makes our different sectors more sustainable. So around 5 fundamental principles. We try to implement it through our different farming industries and 88% of slaughterhouse are audited, a 88% of all slaughterhouse that produce for Carrefour.

And so we've really rolled out a policy that we like to replicate in all sectors linked to animal wellbeing. We've been really pioneers, for example, regarding male chicks and on eggs. So the eggs with shells that you buy to make an omelet and the ingredients that you find in the batter of a lot of products. So we actually focused on eggs that don't come from caged chickens. So we actually try to really roll out that policy throughout our supply chains. This is essential for our supply chains to prove sustainable. So that's what I wanted to share with you on supply chains and biodiversity.

And now I'm going to give the floor to Bertrand Swiderski, who's going to tell you more about health and plastic and how they can help grow our model.

[Interpreted] Hello, everybody. I'm going to tell you about something that is really -- should be everybody's business, but it's also one of the main challenges of our sector. But it's also an opportunity. It's an opportunity to actually help our consumers and our customers have a more healthy purchasing. So we want to turn that opportunity into an opportunity for growth.

So let's look at the figures. Eating healthy is one of the priorities amongst Europeans. But if you look at French consumers, 53% of French consumers actually pay close attention to the composition of the food they eat. They need to be able to find their bearings. But -- and alongside that, there are demographics trends, health and societal trends that are reshaping nutritional needs. So there's one -- so we have 1 out of every 6 children that is overweight in France. We have an aging population. We see also a lot of pathologies that are linked to nutrition that grow, 5.7% of French people actually are being treated for diabetes.

So all of that goes to -- is part and parcel of our innovative policy. So there's a growth of functional food for sports people. We have a growth also in the protein-enriched products, 30% annual growth. Also growth of products without -- that are gluten-free, lactose-free, 5.7% annual growth. But there's room for innovation. For example, we've noticed that people actually -- our consumers need more fiber-rich food. So we have to make that available to them. Carrefour has been on the forefront of healthier food for 30 years. We've been one of the first to really focus on that.

So we have a 24% market share on organic products. We're ranking #1 in France. But we want to make that organic range really affordable, thanks to our loyalty cards. We want to really popularize organic products. And for people who become bio specialists, even bio addicts, we have 145 specialist organic stores that help turn the bio addicts into a bio super addict. So commitments that we've made as part of our Carrefour 2030 strategy is to meet the target of 50% of food sales contributing to a healthier diet by 2030. So to tackle that, we want to reformulate existing products, less sugar, banning a certain number of substances, and we want to add specific requirements. So non-GMO feed, raised without antibiotic treatments, grown without chemical treatment. So reformulating existing products.

Secondly, developing new health-focused ranges. So we want every other customer to leave with at least one piece of fruit or vegetable from our store. And you will actually find out more in our store. Really, our core business is to make these products more affordable through the loyalty card, but also 10% to 15% discounts on fruit and vegetable. We've also identified geographical areas in which we want to help shape the way our customers consume and actually help them turn towards more -- towards healthier products.

So products rich in fiber, reach in omega-3. And e-commerce is another target. We want to promote healthier alternatives. And 60% of those who've clicked validate at least one product. So with, Hopla, it's an AI chatbot that helps you plan a whole week of gluten-free products, a whole week of omega-3-rich products or a whole week of healthy eating if you are a very sporty person. So we have to use a robust methodology. That robust methodology is the French National Nutrition and Health Programs, PNNS. So we've listed the products that we have to actually -- where we have to boost the consumption, those where we have to really help move our consumers towards them and those for which we have to maintain the level of consumption.

So it's impossible to raise to this challenge. We need our customers to do that. And so to get our customers on board, our idea is to develop transparency. Transparency with respect to the origin or the no sugar, like in Belgium, the amount of sugar added or the Nutri-Score. We know that when we applied the Nutri-Score, that customers then went for the brands A, B and C. And so most of the suppliers move that direction. If we display the Nutri-Score, we increase our sales by 10% to 20%. Transparency has become clear, and it's a question of trust. So if we've got 2,100% that are compliant with our reference, that they haven't been ultra processed. So we count on our transparency.

We want our customer to adopt this and to standardize the market. Our logic consists in making sure that the suppliers work together, whether they be competitors of one another, whether they be complementary, we make sure they work together in coalitions, for example, our 100 for plant-based products and that they have collective initiatives within the stores, which help us to popularize this type of product and to make sure that the market attains maturity.

There's also the signature of SLBP, which is going to influence the consumption of tomorrow. This is a stake which is not only practical, which is very technical, which is a source of innovation, which is ethical and responsible. And so the health pillar is a major stake for the group. I'm going to continue with health by saying that some things are in your plate in spite of you or they're in the food supplies -- in the food supply chain. This is plastic, whether you want it or not. And so this is why I want to explain the plan that was announced by Alexandre earlier, and this is why we've introduced this initiative.

This is based on one phenomenon. There's a European regiment, which is the PW, which we've got to have a certain percentage of less plastic by 2030. And so this European regulation means that there's going to be a contribution, which is going to increase by 20% in 1 year on plastics. And the second issue is the Middle East conflict, which has increased raw materials by 50% in 1 year. These 2 effects, we saw them coming. We saw them coming as of 2018 because we've got our 3Rs, which is reduce, recycle, reemploy.

And since 2018, we've had a reduction of about 25,000 tonnes of packaging. And so this has enabled us to get to 67%, and we're the leader in France of reusing plastics with 57% of shops that help us reemploy materials, and we've seen this and in anticipation of the new regulations that are going to be issued in 2030. So we've got to have 5,000 tonnes of plastic less by 2030. There's an economy of 2030 with EUR 5 million of savings on the eco-consumption, but also we're avoiding raw materials, by avoiding plastics that are becoming more and more expensive. We've decided to invest them in purchasing power for the development of sort of like major format refillable packaging, but the development of reusable, 10% less expensive per liter if you reuse the containers.

So 500 tonnes, we're going to get rid of useless packaging. We're going to use cardboard instead of plastic. And we've got to be transparent on this. If we get rid of half of the plastic, we're going to have half cardboard, half plastic. So I finished wrapping it up with the plastic plan and with this reduction for the 2 subjects, you've seen that our strategy is always to anticipate things to ask questions about what's in the pipeline for the future and less plastic, improve health, innovation.

I'm going to leave the floor now to Carine Kraus, who's going to give us the CSR methodology. Thank you very much.

Just a few words at the end of the presentation to see how we're going to roll out all of that because we've got to anticipate, secure and grow, but we've got to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. The subject, we've got to have a D&I policy that's at the right level because we've got all these society and environmental commitments. But if we want to have the commitment of our workers, we've got to deploy a D&I policy that's robust. So we're doing this over the last few years. We're doing it with our human resources team.

And with the D&I, just like equality between gender equality, which is a key 52% workers in Carrefour are women. And so we've got a series of programs to promote diversity and professional equality with 42% of women managers. We've got 32% of women in top management in our top 200. We've still got measures in our Carrefour plan for 2030 and strict gender equality for our leaders and for our graduate programs. And we insist that all our companies are -- have labels like GIS, and they've got to have 5/5 for that. Equality between men and women and disability, which is also a major cause of the strategic plan for 2026 in Carrefour.

In 2022, we had 11,000 disabled workers, and we committed ourselves to having 15,000 disabled workers by the end of 2026. We're at 14,400 by the end of 2025. And so we're going to continue to attain this ambitious target, which helps people to stay employed, but to make sure that our workers that are disabled feel well at work. And so there's a series of initiatives that we've sort of like we've got people that you can reach out to if you're disabled.

And for our customers as well, this enables us to reach out to them, and we can show them how we can have barrier-free shops and stores. And you've got to look at the context of the different countries. For example, in Belgium, we are resolutely fighting against discrimination with respect to origins. We trained a lot of people in Brazil to raise the awareness about this. And we try to promote managers who are from diversity backgrounds. And we've had an indicator, which has been there for 25 years. This is a foundation and the budget has been the same for the last 25 years. It doesn't depend what the market context is.

Our foundation resists with a budget that enables us to have significant action and which enables us to have 22 million meals in France and a lot of action, which are very important for our workers and colleagues and the foundation is very important for them. So that's the first point. It's a prerequirement to deploy a successful CSR policy, you've got to have a diagonal approach.

And the second requirement is to get our franchisees on board. This has a growing share of the Carrefour model. And so we've got a series of mechanisms to make sure that our franchisees, whoever they are, apply our CSR policy. So for our franchisees who are in integrated countries, we've got a dedicated network of CSR advisers who contact them about our initiatives, who sort of like offer them packs so that it can be rolled out immediately.

And for a subject that it's very important to us, which is a reduction of our emissions, Scope 1 and 2, Carrefour has preferential prices on low-carbon options, which enables them to reduce the impact of their shops. And we've got 75% of our franchise partners that have low-carbon technology. And our partners are deploying this massively.

If you go to our local network and our fight against food weight and our CSR, especially deposit systems, which are working really well as well. So that's for our partners in integrated countries, for our international partners in other countries. In CPI, we've got a series of initiatives. We've got roadmaps which for all of our international partners, about 95% of our partners have signed a new group ethics charter, which enables us to have better reporting requirements and more audit rights for Carrefour. And so all of -- we're rolling this out with our franchise, which is at the heart of our business, like Scope 3 is really important for us. So if we roll this out with our top 100 suppliers, it has a huge impact on our own stores, like our franchise stores. And so through the goods that are sold, we can roll this out in a better manner.

And the last subject, which is really important to deploy a CSR policy is our CSR index, which has existed over the last few years, which is a summarized index. You've got 4 pillars here. You've got the products that you sell in the stores. And for innovation, which is the score, we ask them to auto-evaluate the CSR policies themselves. You've got the customer perception as well that Alexandre talked about. And you've also got how the employees perceive things. And all of this provides data, which enables us to found our index and we publish this annually, that we then roll it out by quarter in every country, by format, which is edited by our statutory auditors and which is a part of our variable pay package for anybody subject to a bonus. So this strongly encourages our managers to employ this. So I'm now going to roll it out for you. You can see the new goals of Carrefour for 2030.

I'm just going to give the floor to Claudia, who's going to talk about the CSR Commission, who's going to show you a short video. There's a typical video that we send out to all our workers. And which should be for managerial dialogue because we've got to have a dialogue with each manager and their teams. I'm going to give the floor now to Claudia.

So good morning all. So I will switch to English. And sorry, but I think there is translation. So first of all, I want to congrats Carrefour to the invitation. I'm very pleased to be here. I think it's quite an important day for Carrefour. And I think we are the first retailer to dedicate Investor Day just to CSR subject. So I'm very glad to be here. So in the next minutes, I would like to just to provide you a quick overview on Carrefour CSR committee, our mission, objectives and key sustainability issues we oversee on behalf of the Board of Directors. I'm pleased to be here with other members of the committee.

At Carrefour, as you could see along all this morning, sustainability is embedded in the corporate strategy through a clear mission, as Alexandre mentioned, to lead the food transition for all. This means delivering healthy, quality food accessible and affordable while reducing environmental impact, promoting responsible sourcing and creating long-term value for shareholders. So two key message in this first sentence.

The first one is, and we all see on the presentation, that it's not just something that Carrefour has in his corporate website or in some nice slides or in some nice speeches as we saw for other retail leaders. And this is part of the daily operations, daily routines, even if you are in Sao Paulo, in Valencia or here in Paris. And taking account that we are talking about total different geographies, environment issues and political policies, even though a global and unique commitment.

Second, this commitment is not set just for our clients, for our employees in the local landscape, it was set to generate a mobilization. And I want you to think on this word mobilization that influence all the stakeholders and value chain. Because in the committee, we totally believe that if there is one player that can really change the adverse impact, it's Carrefour. To feel better and leave a better planet for future generations, continuing day by day serving each customer is unique. There is no better purpose than this one as a leader retailer in the world.

So the CSR committee plays a critical governance role in supporting the mission. And our purpose is quite simple: to assist the Board in overseeing Carrefour CSR commitments, ensuring that sustainability considerations are integrated into strategic decision-making, risk management and performance monitoring. So we focus on 3 main objectives: First, guiding Carrefour's sustainable strategy. The committee reviews and monitors the group ESG commitments and duty of care plan, ensuring they remain aligned with both stakeholder expectations and long-term business priorities. A good example, and Carine also referred, is the management remuneration is linked to the CSR index results that you saw. I think there is no other retailer, leading retailer with this commitment and this policy.

Second, monitoring performance and accountability. It's really, really important. Through regular reviews of key sustainability indicators and targets, the committee ensures progress is measured, is transparent and aligned with Carrefour commitments. It's materialized in the CSR index that you all saw. And this rollout, it's not, again, something global and unique. It requires business by business, country by country and concrete action plans. We are pleased to dialogue in the committee with different people in the countries and the CSR leaders in each country in order to follow this index.

Third objective, identifying and managing ESG-related risks and opportunities. Sustainability challenge, and we all know this by heart, such as climate change, supply chain resiliency now so strong in those days, human rights and changing consumer expectations can have significantly finance and operating impacts. So the committee helps to ensure these issues are proactively addressed. As an example, in the last, I think, 1, 2 years, we dedicated specific sessions and time with Brazil teams, mainly with Pablo that you just saw, and local suppliers and institutions regarding the deforestation topic. So we were really near this topic with the local teams. So these objectives follow our values, we want transparency, integrity and initiative. And these ones follow all our meetings and decisions.

So now looking ahead, the committee pays particular attention to several strategic issues, and we defined 4 areas of vigilance, really aligned of what we just saw. First, climate change and decarbonization; second, sustainability, sourcing and supply chain responsibility; third, food quality, health and nutrition. And at the committee, we were very glad to see that this topic is now in the core of the new strategic plan of Carrefour Group; and fourth, social responsibility and human rights, talking about employee well-being, diversity, inclusion, responsibility practice throughout the supply chain.

So across these areas of vigilance, we have lots of achievements already, lots of commitments. I'll just point out four. One, as Carine was saying, the in-store climate score. So it's really something that is at the store level. So they can now follow what is each store's impact at the climate level, and they can benchmark and challenge between stores. The second, top 100 suppliers committed with 1.5 decarbonization journey, as Alexandre was saying, again, the unique retailer worldwide to have the strong commitment.

Third, the handicap plan. It's not something because it's nice to be in the press, but it was decided, it was implemented, and we look to the results and we overplan -- overscored these targets. And finally, the extra financial agreements that Carine told, the SLBP contracts. And we know in our interactions in the committee, it's not easy. It's to put in the same table, the commercial buyer to discuss promotions, to discuss and negotiate prices and conditions. And in the same table, you have the negotiation of the CSR commitments in the same table. So again, I think in these contracts, Carrefour was also a unique and leading retail player worldwide to have these commitments.

So to conclude, just two key takeaways for you. First, Carrefour views sustainability not as a stand-alone initiative, but part of its business, risk management, long-term value creation, a strong mobilization, the word I wanted to keep, side-by-side with economic performance. And second, the CSR committee ensures that these priorities remain embedded in the group governance and strategic decision, supporting just two things and two main focus: sustainable growth and shareholder value.

Thank you for your attention. I will be here and my colleagues from the committee to answer your questions. Thank you for your attention. Carine?

[Interpreted] Thank you very much, Claudia, for your presentations. Thank you very much, Marie-Laure, Patri, Sylvie for the interesting presentations, which enabled us to progress your work, which has enabled us to progress and your work, which has enabled us to make progress for CSR over the last week for management, for Carine, Bertrand, Agathe, and all the rest of the team for all the energy that you're investing to make sure that this subject is part of our daily routine in spite of all the negative headwinds.

Thank you for all the teams for the preparation. I think that the presentations that we've had illustrate the wealth and the precision of our CSR actions and initiatives. And thank you very much, journalists and investors who've come to spend this morning with us. We're now going to pursue this morning in a few minutes. We're going to get into more detail because we're going to go into a local store because it's Carrefour Massy. It's just beside our headquarters. And we're going to have lunch over there, and we're going to have CSR fresh-produce lunch over there. And thank you very much, and we're here for your questions and answers.

Carine, perhaps you're going to come up on the stage. I think there's a roving mic as well. A few questions.

[Interpreted] So for all of you who are here in the room with us. Are there any questions?

[Interpreted] Thank you very much. François, Cheuvreux. So for the commitments for the top 100 suppliers, soon to be 150, you've made a lot of progress. And there's been some resistance that you talked about. What are the commercial impacts according to you? For those who aren't supporting us. I know the idea is that everyone supported, but have you already tested resistance? Are the categories of suppliers were sort of like some are unavoidable or is everyone replaceable?

[Interpreted] Thank you for this question, François. Because when we launched Carrefour 2026, we have the idea that 100% of our 100 top suppliers would respect our initiative. We were at 27%. We really clearly and strongly indicated to it, and I signed a letter as well and sent it out to all of the 100 top suppliers that we wanted them to support us to get to our 1.5% trajectory. Otherwise, they'd be dereferenced.

But we have doubts about our capacity of bringing industry behind us, 27% to get to 100%. We started quite a while ago. We've been doing this now for a few years. We've had a lot of progress to make. The very good news is that this coercion, that we're proud of this, it worked. We could have done like a lot of our retail competitors by saying we're going to work together and then we'll see. We didn't tell them we're going to see. We told them we're either on the pathway or we're not. And we said it very diplomatically, but really determinably. It's yes or no. The good news is that the cooperation was set up really quickly. And let's remain modest about this. So like the industrials are doing a lot of things to accelerate the policies as well.

So out of the top 100, I think we've brought the point across, I think we're at 85% or 87%. So we've still got 7 or 8 months. I think we're going to attain our goal by the end of the year. And then we're going to roll it up for 150, so 50 more by 2030. So when we launched this initiative, this means that we are willing to get rid of those who don't join us in this adventure. So now we have a strong belief that we're going to attain our goals and that we can actually make it roll it out for the top 150, the goal of making sure that we respect the 1.5 degree of temperature increase. And this is where Carrefour is playing its role as like a top-level trainer, for example.

And I remember the first consumer goods forum, which followed what we did within this initiative. And I met my colleagues who on the industrial level, we said, I don't know if we're going to manage it. I don't know if we're there. And I told them they just have to do it and that was that. So they've adopted this approach. They've also got their own policies that are bringing them along that path as well. So I think the approach has been successful. And I think we're going to manage to roll it out totally. And if they're not, then they'll be dereferenced.

[Interpreted] I'm from BNP Paribas. Thank you very much for organizing this day. I think this is the first time for the investors, so good faith. Thank you very much for this discussion. I think it's very interesting to be here. I think you said you were demanding. I don't think I heard the word with respect to the local level, where you were talking about this local level actions sort of like organic and where you can develop organic plus local. I think you've got a role to play that's quite strong in the mix of products that you're supplying, especially with respect to organic produce. I think that if you insisted on like French local organic produce, I think that would be a good plan. And do you have any thoughts on that?

[Interpreted] Well, apologies because we could only cover big topics. We didn't have time to cover everything. But when we talk about local, it actually is integral in everything we do, quality sectors and industries through our organic product partners, 7,000 partners. Also referencing local partners, it used to be a real powerhouse to actually be on the list for these partners. We've simplified that a lot. So that's all part and parcel of our local strategy, our local approach. We'd rather act than to showcase it with a nice picture of a cattle breeder at the entrance of the store. I think some of our competitors are very good at this, and it works.

I know that kind of showcasing, but we have to leverage our size and power to drive change in our whole industry. So having partners who really are fully committed, turning to organic farming, and we know how important and difficult it is for farmers, they need visibility on volumes and prices. So this is a full-fledged approach through our tripartite agreements. So I think we're one step ahead.

And Michel-Edouard Leclerc often says that on quality, farming productions and farming sectors, we are one step ahead in how we've built loyalty with farmers and cattle breeders. So maybe it wasn't highlighted enough in the overview we gave you. But local is a priority. So all our organic teams, Florent Gomez and the others, all our specialized team, organic is good, Bio c' Bon. They're obsessed with actually adding more references amongst local organic producers.

[Interpreted] I'm from CIC CIB. I had a question about the CSR strategy, as part of the value generation strategy. So what are the tangible elements, ROI, for example, that are used on some projects? And what is the part that is more intangible? Anticipating on risks, it's very hard to put a figure on; protecting reputation, that is not a value that you can actually quantify. So as part of that value generation policy, what is tangible and what is more intangible, but nonetheless real? So is it something that you can put a figure on that you can cost?

[Interpreted] Well, when you have a very robust strategy to invest in decarbonization, EUR 200 million per year invested for decarbonization to reduce energy consumption by 20%, this is very tangible. Remember, we launched that when the energy prices were going through the roof. So that really required very strong efforts from our teams for cold storage equipment, using different refrigerating fluids, not based on fluoride. So all of these investments to reduce our energy consumption, that's very concrete, that's very tangible with a return on investment that is all the quicker because of the volatility in prices.

So Spain actually started first, which means that return on investment was very quick in Spain when energy prices went through the roof. We have a partnership in France. So investment, return on investment, goes through the CIG headed by Matthieu Malige. Setting priorities, CSR and return on investment, that can be pretty quick and really deliver very, very fast. But we also have more long-term projects, so it's not as fast in terms of return on investment because those are transformational projects to really reshape our model.

So charging points, 5,000 charging stations across all our stores, that's very tangible. So I chose energy as an example, but I could have used many other examples. What we try to -- what we endeavor to do all the time is to actually combine our economic objectives with those climate-oriented objectives. With our health plan, we want to actually help our customers to be healthier. But we want to attract new customers. We want to stand out from our competitors when we become #1 on plant-based alternatives, when we have that objective of top 100 suppliers, plant-based alternatives, the ROI can be quite quick. Once we've started rolling out these policies, we also have very good relations with our industrial partners despite what can be stumbling blocks in those relations at times. So we want to combine our CSR strategy with delivering on our economic targets.

Any further questions?

[Interpreted] Hello. Dorothee Lafitte from Analyste TSF. I want to thank you for this very interesting Investor Day. I had a question. Coming back on your commitments in terms of health and healthier eating, you talked about the importance of giving more choice to your customers. You talked about Nutri-Score and e-commerce. So have you had conversations with the brands and all the products that you have in store, bearing in mind that there are a lot of brands that have given up on the Nutri-Score?

[Interpreted] Well, on that topic, same as on other topics, I think the catchword is, we try to set an example working on what's in our hands. What's in our hands is, our private labels. So on our private label products that you'll find Nutri-Score, that's in our control. So by being exemplary, we have a bargaining chip in our negotiations with the other brands. We try to convince them that, on the one hand, it is a trend that is there to stay. And on the other hand, that it would be in their interest to actually tag along to be part of that policy. It's better to have a D or E Nutri-Score than no Nutri-Score at all because Nutri-Score is synonymous with transparency.

So it's always going to be better to have a Nutri-Score whatever it is, meaning that you're not trying to hide information from the consumers. So there are some national brands that still refuse to put Nutri-Score on their products, so we decided to make them available on our digital applications. But I've had conversations with a number of CEOs who were dead against Nutri-Score a few years ago, but we've made progress with them. Some who were dead against it have started actually putting Nutri-Score on their products. And I'm a firm believer that once you've started working at this and you work hard at demonstrating and you've fostered a dialogue and you've been exemplary in the way you roll out the policy, you can make progress.

[Interpreted] Hie Guenou from the CIC CIB. On the sustainability-linked framework, that it's back to 2022, have you looked into updating it with your SBTi trajectory because it covers Scope 1 and 2 and the top suppliers? So with this new commitment that includes flag emissions, have you planned on an update?

I'll start and then Mathieu can tell you about the SLB. We've actually adapted it over time. We only had indicators on Scope 1 and 2 to begin with, and we added Scope 3 and the SBTi is quite recent, 2026. So we're looking into the possibility of adding another indicator, so we want a simpler indicator that's easier to understand. So we are definitely looking into adding other indicators. I think there was another question, but maybe it's been answered.

[Interpreted] Thank you for organizing this Investor Day. Marie Peillon, I'm at Groupama Asset Management. You've already made a number of commitments in terms of protecting biodiversity and combating deforestation on a number of raw materials. How do you plan on broadening these commitments across all the stores and countries where you operate in the years to come?

[Interpreted] I'm sure you know the subject well, but it's a daily fight. I know that firsthand because I actually was at the head of the commission on deforestation at the Consumer Forum. And it is complex to onboard a number of retailers or industrialists more so than on other topics. It is a tricky topic. Of course, there's the fact that we have a very big foothold in Brazil, that makes the topic more complex for us. And you have to onboard traders. A few years back, they were not very interested. Same for a number of producers. So it's really a big effort that we need to make to persuade them.

Coming back to beef, remember where we were at a few years ago. When you say that 100% of the private label and national brands in Brazil are now from areas that have not been impacted by deforestation, it's a giant leap forward. Other raw materials are also under scrutiny, soy, for example. But there have been recent developments with regards to soy that has actually reshaped the conversation on deforestation. So we try to get as many of our partners in the industry onboard. I think we can be quite proud collectively, not only as Carrefour, even though we really pushed for it within Carrefour. So we can be proud of what we've achieved.

We're trying to now broaden it to other raw materials. So with the main raw materials that present a risk of deforestation. What we've demonstrated on soy goes to show that we have to revisit that topic constantly. There's the fact that it features in politicians conversations and speeches and policies or not. It's a sensitive subject. We have proven our capacity to get a number of traders onboard, but it's still a very sensitive subject.

[Interpreted] Hello, Kim-Anh Fabvier CIC CIB. Same words of thanks from me with regard to the organization of this day and the videos that shed some light on what you actually are engineering in countries as far as Brazil. Coming back to what you said about beef, some NGOs can actually come and challenge you on these subjects. There have been controversies. Would you say that some of these controversies still need to be addressed? Do you think that some NGOs might come and question your policies and your achievements? What's the lie of the land? Where are you at?

[Interpreted] It's a very good question. Made me smile. Was it the founder of Mighty Earth that we saw? Yes, I think he's the founder, made me smile when he agreed to list what we had achieved because a few years back, when we referred to that gentleman, it was only to say that we were trying to foster dialogue. And I think the video told you a lot about our achievements, our past frustrations.

In the video, what he said was that to change production conditions for beef in Brazil, he knew he had to tackle Carrefour. He's not saying that you were the worst at it because he agrees that we were more advanced than other, but he had decided to make Carrefour a target. Why? Because we are big, because we're a listed company, so you can come to the Annual General Meeting. So it's easier to have a more organized dialogue. So I have the utmost respect for these activists and these NGOs. They make us progress, thanks to their questioning.

But sometimes I'm a bit annoyed and I want to tell them, well, be careful in the way we tackle these subjects. Do we do everything perfectly on animal well-being? Of course, not. We don't claim that. But are we one step ahead in terms of animal well-being? Absolutely so. So on eggs that's outside of cages, on yellowfin tuna, are we one step ahead? Yes, absolutely. So we're one step ahead compared to other industrial players. Do we do everything right? Of course, not. But what I observe is that it might be easier and quite convenient to decide that they want to target Carrefour because it's going to get more media coverage. But I think it can prove to be quite counterproductive sometimes.

And the risk they take is that they can actually encourage us to stop. And we've never actually decided to stop. even though the going gets rough sometimes. So I find that that's the limitations of those controversies. But good news is that sometimes things turn for the better, same as for Mighty Earth. For years, they were very negative on Carrefour. And when I went to Brazil and I could see firsthand what other competitors did, that made me frustrated at how hard they were on her -- on us.

But they proved to be open-minded enough and objective enough. That doesn't always go hand-in-hand with activism. But when they prove open-minded like that, rather than only trying to get more media coverage by targeting Carrefour, I think it's very positive. So I think what I can safely say is that we try to tackle one controversy at a time. We don't do everything well, but we're one step ahead on certain topics.

Yes, sir. Wow, way more questions than when we focus only on finance.

[Interpreted] Florent Vennetier. I have 2 quick questions. Could you clarify the objectives on organic products more specifically? Because unless I misunderstood, it actually is part of your sustainable products policy. In the previous plan, there was a specific organic product plan that actually could not be achieved, your objectives could not be achieved because of the way the market evolved. And second question, what do you think of the pretty slow start on the latest projects that you launched that didn't seem to be too popular?

[Interpreted] So the organic product market in 2018, 2019 had nothing to do with the post-COVID market. Hence, the objectives we set for ourselves. So have we made met our first objective? Yes, to become a leader. We did so because we are present in all our formats, so supermarkets, hypermarkets and in those specialist formats that we've acquired and developed. I would include our digital activities as well.

Then the market slowed down and you know that, of course, very well. And then it actually became more buoyant, and we benefited from that. And we decided to include organic products in the certified sustainable products, EUR 8.5 billion. That is a very ambitious target and organic products feature high, but together with the quality industries and quality production and sustainable fishing, to name only a few, we believe in this. The market is back on the up. We made the most of it. We are strengthening ourselves, opening new stores, and we try to bring together small organic players who join us. We are trying to work hard at making our organic products more attractive. All of that included from now on in the broader category of certified sustainable products.

[Interpreted] So on the pickup points, we really believe in it.

[Interpreted] So takeaway segment where reuse is 1 out of 8 in-depth projects.

[Interpreted] Oh, it's about collecting used bottles.

[Interpreted] So collecting bottles and packaging. So we want to test interoperability between the operator and the distributor. And the second objective was to test packaging. So the packaging that will be a standard packaging so as to be able to be recycled, reused and collected in the first place. So EUR 500,000 per month is the sales linked to that recycling and recovering. So the aim is, of course, zero waste. But the fact that structurally, we have not really found a solution in terms of interoperability. But in most of our stores, this is real. This policy actually has materialized, and we're working our way to our zero waste policy.

[Interpreted] Any further questions before we take the tour?

[Interpreted] I'm CSR Officer at GFI. I want to tell you that we've made a note of the fact that you position yourselves with regard to the EUDR Deforestation regulation. We really made a note of that. We really appreciate it. And the quality of the cooperation that you've had on deforestation, on PPWR, so we really appreciated that. WWF actually ranked Carrefour amongst the top 3 CAC 40 companies on nature. I think the remaining points on which we expect more from you has to do with sustainability. That is for now the preserve of the quality products -- for Carrefour quality products. So we want you to expand it, broaden it, not only make it the preserve of your private label products, but all the national brand products.

And we'll also scrutinize the lobbying part because you've been very vocal on EUDR. You talked about the moratorium. We know that it's a tricky subject, but we have high expectations on all these subjects, but thanks for the quality of the dialogue.

[Interpreted] Well, thank you very much. I'll share this with our teams. Last 2 questions, and then we have to leave for the tour. We can go on chatting during the tour.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much. I have a question for the administrator and the CSR committee. With a long-term perspective, what has been your thinking process in addressing these different subjects? What's next? What are the next big projects? And what is your policy, your reasoning?

The subjects are so, so many and because we are not just in one country. The challenge of the geographies and being a global group, it's quite a challenge. And so we try to address the different environmental issues that we have in Brazil are completely, not totally different, but quite challenging. Regarding France, if you look to South Europe, the climate change is impacting strongly Spain, for example. So I would say that addressing what we have now, it's quite a challenge. But if we look forward, all the climate change impact, it will be one of the most critical, I think, that we will try to be more vigilant and be more proactive, pushing the countries in order to have their risk map very identified and measured.

[Interpreted] Patricia, pardon?

[Interpreted] Just wanted to add to what Claudia said. The CSR committee 10 years back was a small thing when I actually joined it. It's become a really determining element because actually, can be connected to products, our stores, the producers we work with, the employees because what is important within the CSR committee is to work on diversity and our employees in general. So it's become a much bigger and much more diverse committee, and I've been able to observe that firsthand because I've sat on the committee for 10 years.

[Interpreted] What I can add personally is that CSR members are very vocal. There's a lot of committee meetings. They meet often. And they want to have a dialogue with the Board of Directors, which means that as a consequence, the time we dedicate to CSR subjects at the Board of Directors' meetings has been growing. And then the capacity to actually red flag major subjects and controversies to bring them to the attention of the Board has been absolutely decisive.

Was there a last question? No, it's been answered. Well, we can go on chatting during the tour. Well, I want to thank you. That was sort of the first half time of this morning. Now let's go in the field and show how we actually turn that into concrete examples. Thank you.

[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Carrefour Q1 2026 Sales Webcast and Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Mr. Matthieu Malige, CFO. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon to all of you, and thank you for attending this 2026 Q1 sales call. I'm here with Sebastien Valentin, Head of Investor Relations and the rest of our IR team.

Before we get into the numbers, I would like to remind you that Carrefour's operations in Romania are now accounted for as discontinued operations in accordance with the IFRS 5 accounting standard.

Moreover, as announced during the presentation of our Carrefour 2030 strategic plan, we are today introducing our new reporting format centered on our 3 core countries: France, Spain and Brazil.

Let me start with a few key highlights before we get into the details of our Q1 numbers. The group had a solid start of the year with Q1 like-for-like sales up 2.2%. This performance was driven by accelerating business trends in France and Spain. Brazil is resilient in a still challenging market marked by this quarter by a sharp deceleration in food inflation.

On the strategic front, we started the operational implementation of the Carrefour 2030 plan with numerous initiatives. In Europe, we started to see the first positive effects of Concordis, our new European buying alliance in our negotiations with major FMCG suppliers.

We continue to improve the group's price competitiveness, notably in France and Spain. We kept expanding our growth formats with new convenience store openings in France and Spain. Additionally, we are pioneering agentic commerce in France through the direct integration of Carrefour's offer into the ChatGPT interface.

And finally, at Atacadao, we launched Bulnez, our new entry price private label range. As you can imagine, we have been closely monitoring the crisis in the Middle East since the end of February. To date, we have seen no material impact on Carrefour's business.

As far as our energy costs are concerned, let me say that our energy efficiency has significantly improved over the past few years following heavy investments and our energy costs are more than 85% hedged for 2026. On the basis of this satisfactory quarter, we confirm our 2026 financial targets. Let's now dive into Q1 numbers on Slide 3 with group sales.

The total sales for the quarter reached EUR 21.1 billion, increasing by 2.5% at constant currency. Group like-for-like sales were up 2.2% over the quarter. The scope effect had a negative contribution of 0.8% over the quarter, which includes perimeter adjustments in Brazil, notably after the divestment of Nacional and Bompreco stores last year.

Petrol added 0.8 percentage points to growth and the calendar effect was a positive 0.4%. ForEx had an unfavorable impact on total sales growth of minus 2.1% over the quarter, mainly reflecting the depreciation of the Argentine peso.

In total, reported revenue was up 0.5% in Q1. Moving on to Slide 4 with more details on the performance of France. Like-for-like sales accelerated to 1.4% in Q1 in a supportive market with food consumption holding up well, both in volume and value. All formats posted positive like-for-like growth with a marked sequential improvement compared to Q4 2025.

Market share increased over the quarter. The former Cora and Match stores continue to ramp up with like-for-like sales now outperforming respective legacy formats by more than 2 points, reflecting the successful commercial transformation implemented throughout 2025. Carrefour continued to improve its price competitiveness with 200 private label products sold at cost and a first national wave of price cuts in March covering 500 SKUs.

This was followed in April by a second national wave of price cuts, again, covering more than 500 SKUs with an average price reduction of around 8%. These investments and further operating excellence are resonating with consumers, leading to an improved Net Promoter Score, up 3 points in France and up 11 points in ex-Cora. Let's now turn to Spain on Slide 5.

Commercial momentum remains strong in the country on the back of a still dynamic market, both in volume and value. Like-for-like sales growth accelerated over the quarter with a 3.1% increase compared to 2% in Q4 '25. This strong performance was driven by both food, up 2.8% like-for-like with outstanding dynamics in fresh products and nonfood up 4.3%.

Carrefour continued to invest in its price leadership with a commitment to 1,000 unbeatable price products, which effectively supported consumer purchasing power and drove the NPS up by 3 points. Commercially, our omnichannel strategy is paying off with e-commerce up 9%.

Finally, we successfully opened 34 new convenience stores in Spain over the quarter. Turning to Slide 6 on our operations in Brazil, which showed resilience in a still challenging environment.

Q1 '26 like-for-like sales declined slightly by 0.8%. The macroeconomic environment remained challenging with a still high interest rates. Volumes remained negative at low single-digit levels, in line with Q4 after the lower point was reached in Q3.

Food inflation dropped to 2% in Q1 compared to 4.1% in Q4 2025, weighing on both the cash and carry and retail formats. Against this backdrop, Atacadao delivered continued like-for-like market share gains. The quarter was also marked by the launch of the Bulnez private label with 70 inaugural SKUs available to support purchasing power, which has been well received by customers.

Carrefour Retail food sales were up 2.8% and recorded growing volumes. In particular, hypermarkets delivered positive like-for-like sales growth of plus 1.1%. Nonfood continued to decline as Carrefour Brazil maintained its focus on the profitability of its nonfood digital operations.

Sam's Club posted a strong 5.7% like-for-like growth, driven by increases in both volume and the number of active members. Additionally, the Financial Services performed well with plus 15% increase in the credit portfolio. Moving on to the other countries segment on Slide 7.

In Belgium, sales growth came at plus 0.8% like-for-like, improving sequentially after plus 0.2% in Q4, supported by slightly positive volumes despite a slowdown in food inflation.

Poland continued to face a highly competitive local market and posted a decline of minus 2.9% in like-for-like sales, a similar dynamic to Q4. And finally, in Argentina, we recorded record market share in a difficult market, still experiencing negative volumes. Let's wrap up on Slide 8.

As you have understood, we were pleased with our first quarter performance, which is in line with our expectations. We delivered clear sequential top line improvement in our core European markets of France and Spain.

We maintained a resilient business trend in Brazil despite navigating a still challenging macroeconomic environment that we believe will improve through the year. To date, we have seen no material impact from the conflict in the Middle East on the activities of the group.

On the back of this solid start to the year, we are confirming our full year 2026 financial targets. I thank you for your attention. Sebastien and I are now happy to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions]. And our first question today comes from the line of Xavier Le Mene from Bank of America.

Two, if I may, or maybe a third one. But first, back to the Ukraine time -- on the Ukraine war, we've seen, of course, a significant impact on the European consumer.

So can you build some kind of similarities this year with the current environment? Or is it different this time? Kind of question linked to that is, do you see the risk of consumer behavior significantly changing from now on going forward in Europe mostly. So that would be the first question. The second one is on the price investment, especially in France. So as you said, you have been investing in 2 ways, launching new products and especially low entry price products.

But are you currently happy where you are? Or do you still believe that you have more to do going forward? I know, of course, it's a relative game versus what your competitors are doing, but some indication here would be helpful. And the last thing is, are you able to potentially comment on consensus for the group operating EBIT for 2026?

Thank you very much, Xavier. So first, on inflation. We've gone through all the various institutes forecasting inflation. The consensus points towards a marginal uptick in inflation with the central scenario suggesting inflation between 1.5% to 3% in Europe and the French government mentioned 1.9% for France for '26, and that was mentioned last week.

So I think very different outlook from the Ukraine situation that you referred to or the post-COVID wave of hyperinflation we had. It's really a marginal uptick. And so it's an inflationary environment, which should not trigger a significant change in consumer behavior. That's today what's come back from the consensus of macroeconomic.

In terms of price investment, so we have invested right through the at cost 200 prices through the 2 waves of each representing 500 products and the price decrease has been 8% in average for each wave. So this is significant. Are we happy where we are? We're happy that all the efforts done over the past few years on the assortment, private label, obviously, pricing and competitiveness in general, including loyalty, what we did on fruits and vegetables on fresh, well, all the value proposition and commercial proposition of Carrefour in France leads us to be in a position today to be gaining market share.

And this is a very important objective for us. Do we want to do more? Yes, we want to keep investing. We have proved in the past that we can combine improving our competitiveness with improving our bottom line. And so that's really the road map that we draw to you when we met a few weeks ago for this Carrefour 2030 plan.

Well, as far as your third question, as far as the consensus is concerned, so today, we're confirming our guidance and all our objectives, and this seems consistent with the current level of the consensus.

And the next question today comes from the line of Rob Joyce from BNP Paribas.

The first one, I was wondering if you could give us an idea of the exit rates you've seen in terms of the end of March and into April in both France and Brazil.

In particular, any sign of those volumes improving or food inflation picking up in Brazil? That would be really helpful. Second one, just to draw on Xavier's question there. I think at the full year presentation or the Strategy Day, you gave us a relative pricing in France index.

You were at 95.6% versus Leclerc at 92%, just wanted to know if you could give us an update on that for the quarter or where you're at now? And then the final one, just in terms of the -- I guess, the price negotiations we've seen in France.

You mentioned the 1.9% inflation. Is that consistent with the way the negotiations finished at the end of February? And how would potential inflationary pressures be dealt with those negotiations already concluded?

Thank you, Rob. So, it's a complex question on the exit rate because you know that Easter has moved a little bit versus last year. So always hard to anticipate. I think in terms of inflation, no significant change in Europe, very stable levels.

Maybe one point to note is in Brazil, as I mentioned in my speech, there's been a significant deceleration of food inflation in Brazil over Q1 versus Q4, notably driven by commodities, which were deflating, so negative inflation.

And there's been in March and on the first few weeks of April, an uptick in terms of inflation. And it seems that food inflation would be accelerating. Again, I'm being very, very cautious is Brazil and given the global macro uncertainty.

But this is what we are seeing. I mentioned it because it's important, notably at Atacadao for our B2B business. As you know, our B2B clients pay a lot of attention to the outlook to inflation and tend to refrain from buying when we have deflation, which was the case for commodities.

And to the contrary, when they see inflation coming back, this is a signal for them to stock up. So we will look in detail at that in Q2. So pricing. So we have a yearly commitment to improve our pricing. So we will detail it each year during our annual presentation and we'll make general comments on how things have improved on a quarterly basis. This is what we did this quarter. You may have seen, but I'm insisting given your question that Distriprix Net was published by Nielsen last week, I think. You will see that Carrefour, both hypers and supers are improving versus the rest of the market both versus Q1 last year and versus the average of '25, which we shared with you during our strategic presentation.

So this is notably on that basis that I said in my introduction that our competitiveness has improved over the quarter. And obviously, that does not factor the price decrease wave of April. Your third question was on inflation and what impact it could have on the discussions with our suppliers.

So we just closed the negotiations with the suppliers 1.5 months ago. There is no signal at this stage. It's a marginal uptick to inflation, which is anticipated by the government. So we are really in the framework in terms of inflation that was discussed. There are a number of clauses in these contracts, which organize the way negotiations could be reopened in a number of scenarios, including if inflation were to accelerate.

We are absolutely not in this scenario. We are far from these ranges and from the limits. And so we do not anticipate any reopening of the negotiations with suppliers. By the way, we have only received a handful of requests. It's just a few on very specific products. So we don't think this is a scenario today.

[Operator Instructions]. And our next question comes from the line of Francois Digard from Kepler Cheuvreux.

Two questions on my side. I've been positively surprised by your characterization of the French market as dynamic. Could you share your view on market volume growth by category and how you see this evolving over the rest of the year? And my second question is about Cora and Match.

The figures you are showing implies that despite negative price mix effect due to the rollout of Carrefour pricing, the volumes have been very strong, I think mid-single digit. Is it correct? And do you believe it is sustainable?

Thank you very much, Francois. So well, the market in France turned to positive volume in Q2 last year, and it's been positive since then. And that's important. That's also important for an investment case.

We have kept seeing in Q1 growth in volume and also in value. So it's a bit of inflation impacting the basket. I'm not going through this growth on a category-by-category basis. But what's important is that we noticed in Q4 that there has been some trading downs on festive products. And so the growth in volume was lower in Q4 than in the previous quarters.

And we said in February that this is something that was not happening anymore in January and that January saw a come back to a positive growth in volume similar to what we had known in previous quarters. And so that has confirmed over the quarter. And so that's, I think, an important news that is worth sharing with you.

On Cora and Match, so I share your analysis that indeed, there has been significant investments made in the competitive -- in the commercial proposition to customers, which has translated in deflation, obviously, investment in everyday price, more promotion as these formats joined the Carrefour promotions, also more private labels, which have a lower price as we rolled out the Carrefour private label, which has a strong success.

So back in Q4, we commented on positive trend on traffic. And now we've gone one step further. I share your view with a positive dynamic in sales, so net of the pricing effect. I also mentioned in my introduction, I'm sure you flagged it, the NPS, which has significantly increased as a consequence of the commercial offer, but also the experience and level of service in the store.

So we think that there is a fundamental trend that has been created. Now we'll see how it will develop over the coming quarter. But what we can say today, this quarter is important because it's a confirmation in the sales number that the commercial model is generating more business at Cora and Match.

[Operator Instructions]. And your follow-up question comes from the line of Rob Joyce from BNP Paribas.

Since there's not too many questions, I thought I'd jump on. In terms of the market share Ex-Cora and Match, how is that trending? I know you talked about that last year. Is market share -- how is that Ex-Cora and Match? And then the second one, I don't know if you'll give us an update on this, but now I guess you're further through the Romania disposal process.

Can you give us any more indication of what you expect the kind of net cash in for that for the year to be when that eventually closes or we finish the year? And then the final one, any other updates on the kind of strategic review on those noncore countries you're able to share at this stage?

Thank you, Rob. So on market share, so we are gaining market share Ex-Cora and Match. Cora and Match are also contributing. It's a limited contribution, but it's a positive one.

So worth noting, but Carrefour France generated market share gains without Cora and Match. On Romania, so no significant development versus where we left you. The process -- the antitrust process is still ongoing. We filed -- well, the buyer filed antitrust a few weeks ago.

And so we are still -- we really -- the process is progressing per plan. And so no closing yet, but the process is progressing normally.

And so I have no update to share on the numbers specifically, it will depend on the closing date. So we will update you, but the numbers that we shared are still the same. As far as the third question regarding the nonstrategic countries. Well, the situation is similar to what we said in February.

So the strategic review is finished. We have categorized countries with strategic and nonstrategic countries. And as far as nonstrategic countries, we are working on improving their performance, creating more value. And if we were to receive an offer at some point that reflects the fair value of these assets, the Board would consider the opportunity. So no change versus what we said in February.

There are currently no further questions. I will hand the call back for closing remarks.

So many thanks for your time and attention. The team is available for any follow-up if you need that. Let me remind you of our upcoming events, which include our AGM on May 22, our ESG Strategy Day on June 16 and our H1 results on July 23. Thank you very much. Have a nice evening.

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

[Interpreted] Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. It is a great pleasure to welcome you to our Massy headquarters for the presentation of our new strategic plan. On behalf of all the teams who contributed to organizing this event, let me tell you how much we appreciate your presence today, which shows your interest in our group.

And I would like to particularly welcome the members of our Board of Directors, our shareholders, the financial analysts and members of the press here today as well as those following us remotely.

As we open a new chapter in Carrefour's history and for my part, a third strategic plan, I would like to express how proud I am of what our group is today. Thanks to the commitment of the 500,000 staff members working for Carrefour banners worldwide to serve the 10 million customers we welcome every day. And thanks to a talented management team, Carrefour is doing well.

Customer obsession is the norm. The group is innovative, agile and financially strong. On many topics, our purpose, our private labels, our digital transformation and our e-commerce, Carrefour is at the forefront of the industry. It's closely watched and often copied. Let's take a look back at how the group has evolved.

[Presentation]

[Interpreted] As you can see, Carrefour today is the result of these changes, a stronger, more competitive group that can adapt to increasingly demanding market environments. In the wake of a global pandemic and a wave of hyperinflation that was unseen in Europe in 30 years, consumer behaviors have indeed evolved. Now focusing more strongly on purchasing power. Price competitiveness has always been a top deciding factor. And today, it has become a signing condition for any growth strategy.

Our markets are polarizing under the pressure of leaders and newcomers who are reinventing standards of cost, speed and customer experience. In this world undergoing deep transformation, 2 dynamics stand out. The first is the great comeback of the store, the good old store, which sunset was doomed, has been confirmed as the key element of food retail. It has not been disrupted by digital. Square meters have become scarce, precious and provide a true competitive advantage.

Carrefour runs one of the densest store networks in the sector with unmatched locations in France, Spain and Brazil. The second dynamic is the breakthrough opportunity offered by artificial intelligence and more broadly, by tech and data, which is opening an unprecedented transformation of our entire value chain from procurement to assortment, building, from sales to customer relations and even to quality of life at work. In recent years, Carrefour has taken undeniable leadership in data and digital.

On the back of these market developments, I would like to present the strategic refocusing that underpins our action plan. Carrefour 2030 focuses on 3 core countries, representing 85% of turnover and 99% of our recurring operating income, France, Spain and Brazil. These are markets where the group holds a leading position and strong value creation potential. In France, the market has rationalized in recent years, and we have managed to double our profitability there.

The Spanish market offers profitable growth, and we are clearly on the offensive there. Brazil is a country of 220 million people. It's a growth market in which we have a unique leadership position. This refocusing has already translated into first actions, the acquisition of the entire share capital of Carrefour Brazil, the sale of Carrefour Italy and the announcement of the sale of Carrefour Romania last week.

Our financial reporting will revolve around 4 segments as of 2026, France, Spain, Brazil and other countries. Regarding Belgium, Poland and Argentina, now managed within the other countries segment, we will focus on dynamic asset management. We'll continue to work on improving operational performance there while keeping all strategic options open. Our North Star guiding these future decisions will be maximizing value creation.

At the same time, we are accelerating the expansion of our international franchise. In 2030, we will be the #1 retailer worldwide in geographical footprint with a presence in 60 countries and the #1 retailer in Africa, covering 22 countries.

Carrefour has unique expertise when it comes to international franchise. Its development confirms the attractiveness of our brand. This business allows us without CapEx investments to take positions in new geographies and to build the group's long-term future. With a clarified and refocused business scope, Carrefour 2030 sets 3 strategic priorities for the next 5 years. We want to win on product offering and customers, consolidate growth from our stores, omnichannel growth. We want to accelerate performance through AI, tech and data.

Our first priority is aimed at our customers. To begin with, let's talk about what matters more than ever to them everywhere in the world, prices. In Brazil and Spain, Carrefour has a well-established price leadership, which we will continue to strengthen.

In France, let's admit it. Historically, Carrefour has not always been consistent in its pricing policy, but that is now in the past. We have repositioned ourselves over the past 2 years. And today, before you, I commit to improving our price competitiveness in France each year. Over the entire duration of the plan, we will report on the improvement in our price competitiveness using the Distriprix Net by Nielsen Index, which captures the full reality of the customer receipt by taking into account prices, discounts and promotions.

To illustrate our ambition in France, starting next week, we will offer our club members 200 everyday private label products at cost price. In Spain, starting tomorrow, we'll be launching 1,000 food products at unbeatable prices in all our hypermarkets. To be competitive, we must perform better in purchasing, especially versus major international FMCG groups, which have continued their consolidation in recent years.

As early as 2023, we took a first step by massifying our international FMCG sourcing in Europe within Eureca. Concordis allows us to go further by joining forces with Cooperative U and RTG, we have doubled our purchasing power. Our ambition for 2030 is to reach co-leadership among European purchasing alliances.

In addition to price, we have another major competitiveness weapon, the Carrefour Club and its 15 million members worldwide. In Spain, the club has driven 90% of growth over the last 3 years and already represents 70% of turnover. We will grow this community to reach 60 million members in 2030. We are extending our offensive in Brazil with Nosso Clube, a loyalty program that will cover all our banners, including a powerful bank and will become one of the very top loyalty programs with 18 million members in 2030.

Now let's talk about product offering. We'll first deepen our differentiation in fresh food, which is the primary driver of visit frequency and loyalty. By placing fresh food at the heart of our Act for Food program, we combine quality and best price, eating well, eating healthy. Thanks to all our actions, we are today #1 in fresh market share and #1 in France for fruit and vegetable prices, thanks to our club advantages. For tomorrow, we have an ambitious program that you will discover now.

[Presentation]

With the rapid development of new players, I want Carrefour to position itself as a fresh fruit specialist with a top level partners. In our stores, we are announcing a strong partnership with the Blachere Group, which will operate 200 concessions for fruits and vegetables. At the same time, we're opening 10 hypermarkets specializing in fresh products inspired by the Marche Frais by Carrefour banner, which has been remarkably successful, 7 will be operated as franchises by Bruno Quattrucci, founder of Marche Frais.

We're accelerating the development of Match, a true gem for the group. With a network of 114 stores today, Match will launch a new concept with a fresh offering increased to 80% versus 45% today. Our ambition is clear. We want to reach 160 Match stores by 2030.

The basis of our fresh offer is our partnership with the agricultural community. We have forged more than 50,000 partnerships with local producers, including 15,000 within the Filiere Qualite Carrefour partners, guarantee stable remuneration to producers and exceptional quality products to our customers.

Our excellence in fresh products also relies on our 40,000 employees working in fresh food craft, our greengrocers, butchers, fishmongers, bakers, pastry chefs, 8,000 of them will be trained each year by 2030, including 3,000 in France within Ecole des Produits Frais Fresh Producce School, a Cora legacy, which will now act as our global center of expertise.

Alongside fresh products, we will deploy an offer that's more innovative and healthier than ever. Innovation is everywhere in our business. Digital alternatives, kidult, K-Beauty, so many trends that did not exist or barely existed 5 years ago, and we have missed no trend.

Carrefour France and Spain already post a market share 10 points above their natural market share on innovations, and we are accelerating. Each year, nearly 1/4 of our offer will be renewed in France and in Spain with 4,000 innovations per year, including 1,000 from our private labels, which are turning 50 this year.

Our Carrefour private labels have gone from 25% to close to 40% of turnover and have become a driver of commercial growth. They are a quality marker as illustrated by Carrefour Bio, France's leading organic brand. We're keeping our leadership with a 10% growth every year. They address purchasing power challenges such as our enterprise brand, Simpl in France and Bulnez that we're launching in Atacadao this year. We will continue to grow our private labels faster than national brands.

For our customers, Carrefour 2030 also marks a new chapter of Act for Food. We will set new standards in food and health. Consumers refuse to choose between purchasing power and the quality of their food. We're setting a new objective, 50% of Carrefour's food sales will contribute to a healthier diet. By 2030, 1 in 2 Carrefour customers will have at least one fruit or vegetable in their basket. By 2030, we will double our sales of protein products, plant-based products, gluten-free, sugar-free, nitrite-free products.

Going further on health means taking action on what consumers expect, transparency. This is why we'll be the first retailer worldwide to clearly indicate the absence of ultra-processed ingredients across our product labels, and we will pull the whole market toward this major public health progress.

Whatever the headwinds, we will remain faithful to the fight against climate change. We're now rated A by CDP, which means we're among the world's top 4 most advanced companies. 3 years ago, we made an unprecedented decision in retail. We asked our 100 largest suppliers to commit to a 1.5-degree Celsius climate trajectory if they wanted to continue being distributed in our stores. 90% of them followed us. And today, we're going further by extending this requirement to 150 suppliers. And we're setting a new target of minus 60% food waste.

In total, we will invest EUR 200 million per year in decarbonization. We will report on these commitments by renewing our ESG index with objectives we hope to exceed every year as we have done for the past 5 years.

As you can see, we have placed customers and our product offering at the heart of Carrefour 2030. The key element is the Net Promoter Score. After an increase of more than 30 points since 2017 and bolstered by new initiatives, I commit to increasing our NPS year-on-year over the duration of the plan.

Our second priority regards our stores. We have 3 growth assets. In Brazil, we fully seized the cash and carry opportunity. Atacadao is a unique model, growth, profitability and operational discipline. We have doubled its network in 7 years and made Atacadao the heart of Carrefour Brazil.

We will continue to expand it with 70 openings by 2030 around a strengthened commercial and profitability model focused on price, fresh food, online sales and banking.

In France and in Spain, our convenience stores represent an outstanding growth format. We have the best concepts with unmatched sales per square meter. In train stations and airports, travel retail is another major growth driver. And by 2030, we will open 1,000 points of sale in France and 750 in Spain to reach 7,500 convenience stores in the 2 countries. So the third growth format is market. And we have not yet fully exploited that potential. We are working on expanding the format with a target of 50 additional stores by 2030, and we are increasing the pace of transfers to franchise operators to 40 stores per year.

Let us now turn to our hypermarkets. They are a valuable legacy, and they must continue to transform. For our structurally loss-making hypermarkets, the franchise lease model has proven effective. We must stay the course. And we will, therefore, convert 15 hypermarkets to lease management in 2026. And this will be carried out under an enhanced social framework following the renegotiation currently underway.

Whether used offensively to drive expansion or defensively for certain struggling hypermarkets, franchising remains one of the major achievements of the previous strategic plan, and we will stay firmly committed to it. And there's nothing more difficult than changing the company's culture, and yet we have done it. Carrefour now operates with a hybrid organization in which both management models reinforce each other.

We are undertaking an upgrade of our commercial model. Our hypermarket offering has long been too static. It needs to remain dynamic in order to capture all sources of growth, particularly in nonfood categories. Our new pharmacy, pet care and home goods spaces are delivering double-digit growth, and we will roll them out on a large scale. And next will come secondhand, a reimagined apparel offering, sports and many other categories.

Overall, 5% to 10% of our retail space will be reallocated to high-growth categories and EUR 200 million will be invested every year in modernizing our stores. Services such as rentals, personal services or financing solutions are also growth pockets. And this strongly loyalty building offer enriches our nonfood ecosystem. We target plus 30% growth in merchant services revenue and plus 40% more customers for our financial services.

Our stores have turned into logistics and data centers that lie at the heart of our e-commerce growth strategy. Since I took the helm of Carrefour, online sales have been an absolute priority. We're already #1 in food e-commerce in Brazil, #1 in home delivery in France, and we achieved the highest drive Click & Collect growth in France in 2025. And we are fast tracking our growth with 2 drivers. We're improving in-store preparation, order compliance and our same-day order rate. We're also increasing assortment size.

Carrefour Drive will offer in France, 100% of the store's food range. That's twice the rest of the market. In France, our ambition is to reach 40% market share for home delivery and 20% market share for Drive, Click & Collect. And in Brazil, we will double Atacadao's online sales volume.

Our third priority, accelerate our transformation through AI and technology. Whether data, cloud migration, CRM transformation or e-commerce, our digital retail company has embraced every major trend and has established itself as a preferred partner for the world's leading technology players. With our 10 billion transactions, we have a data lake that is unique in both scale and quality.

And this enables us to personalize customer relationships and develop adjacent revenue streams via our financial and merchant services as well as through our retail media business, which continues to grow.

Unlimitail has established itself as the leader in the European market, even though the market has not yet reached the scale initially expected. At a time when the traditional advertising market is under pressure, we will double Unlimitail's revenues, and we are placing more emphasis than ever on in-store screens.

The emergence of AI represents a turning point. AI is one of the major strategic bets of Carrefour 2030. And I deliberately refer to this as a bit because we are not yet able to quantify precisely the gains that this revolution will deliver, but we know that those gains will be substantial by 2030, starting with productivity gains in both our store operations and our headquarters functions.

Regarding our stores, today, we are announcing a strategic partnership with the VusionGroup. Following the example of Walmart, which has implemented this technology with outstanding results, Carrefour is becoming the first retailer in Europe to deploy a fully integrated solution, combining cameras, electronic shelf labels, connected rails and artificial intelligence to address key in-store operational challenges such as out-of-stock detection, accuracy, product, geolocation, planogram management and more. Let us now take a look at how this technology operates in practice at our [indiscernible] hypermarket, located just 20 kilometers from here.

[Presentation]

[Interpreted] As you can see, this is a major operational transformation project for Carrefour with a multiyear investment program of EUR 150 million for the entire network of hypermarkets and supermarkets in France.

Regarding the central functions, our teams are already working on transforming business processes with AI agents. A few hands-on examples, selecting the right locations for your expansion, contract management, granular sales forecasting, customer service and optimizing logistics flows. We will pay particular attention to upgrading our employee skills and deploy specific training program for all employees, whether in stores, at our warehouses or at head office.

We have already taken a first step by deploying Gemini to 250,000 employees in 2025. And all of these action plans rely on more than EUR 100 million invested every year into AI by 2030 and on an AI factory, bringing together internal teams and AI specialists to coordinate the move and get the best out of each function.

Productivity challenges are common to all companies. But the hallmark of our sector is the intensity of the agent commerce revolution. Today, 60% of consumers report using AI in their shopping journey, whether to get information, search for a product or buy it. In the near future, AI agents will be a central point of entry for our customers. With 100,000 users every month, Hopla+ has laid the foundations in our app for the first agentic shopping experience in France. We are part of a very small circle, around 20 players worldwide. And together with Google, we are jointly building a shopping experience directly based on Gemini.

And in France, we're already the most visible food retailer in the 3 largest large language models. As you can see, Carrefour 2030 is a growth plan. We are determined to play offense. We are committed to the historic objective of 25% market share in France and 20% market share in Brazil by 2030. And we will achieve this target thanks to all of our initiatives and by deploying between EUR 1.8 billion and EUR 2 billion in investments into modernizing our stores, our logistics and our tech, data and AI initiatives.

And Carrefour 2030 is also a clear disciplined financial framework focused on improving profitability and returning value to our shareholders. We want to achieve the same level of profitability of our best-performing peers with an operating margin target of 3.5% in 2030 and a milestone of 3.2% in 2028. And we will generate EUR 5 billion in cumulative cash flow by 2028 with cash flow growing steadily every year.

Our adjusted net income per share will also deliver steady annual growth of 5% to 10% Ordinary dividends will represent between 50% and 60% of adjusted annual net income, and we aim to grow this every year. We will maintain one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry by ensuring that our financial rating remains what it is today, BBB stable outlook at Standard & Poor's. And our strong cash generation will allow us to decide every year on additional shareholder returns. Finally, we're changing the format of our interactions with shareholders and investors with the following initiatives, in particular, new reporting segments to specifically track performance in our 3 core countries, increased granularity on cash flow.

We need to clearly distinguish between operational and real estate cash flows and visibility on the value and also evolution of our real estate assets currently estimated at EUR 14 billion. In parallel, we will organize regular theme-based workshops for investors, and the first workshop will be scheduled on June 16, and we'll focus on our ESG commitments.

And it will be followed on November 2026 by a session dedicated to our hypermarkets and by an AI and tech workshop in January 2027. Now before we take your questions, I'd like to refer to the mindset, that's the source of inspiration for this new strategic road map, starting with my decision to continue my mission at the head of Carrefour. When the Board of Directors give me the honor of proposing to renew a mandate, I asked myself one question.

As a matter of principle, I ask myself, do I still have the fighting spirit and the spirit of innovation, what I demand from my teams as well as the ability to amplify whatever works and change whatever doesn't work. Carrefour 2030 has operated consistently since 2018, developing franchising our growth formats and our own brands, our private labels, relentless work on costs and our pioneering role in the food transition as well as digital retail.

Carrefour 2030 has also featured inflection points and even a number of strategic shifts for the first time, a quantified target for market share gains. For the first time, we have a commitment to improving our price competitiveness. We're making a strategic bet on AI's ability to disrupt all of our value chains. And finally, the group is refocusing on its 3 core markets and opening 20 new ones through franchising.

None of what I have just announced will happen without those who make up the Carrefour community, our teams in our stores, our warehouses, our head offices, our franchise partners and their employees, we all share the same passion for our customers. We all fight for food quality and purchasing power. And now we share the same road map for the next 5 years. Starting today, the challenge is simple. We need to execute fast, well, and we need to do it together country by country, business by business, store by store. Carrefour 2030 is starting now. Thank you.

[Interpreted] Thank you very much. Now with the rest of the leadership team in the room today, let's take your questions. I'd like to remind you that there is a special session for financial analysts at the end of this press conference.

[Interpreted] I have a question regarding market share gains. The target for France, plus 25% for France, at the moment, your market share is 22%. So 3 point increase in less than 4 years, how do you intend to achieve that? Are you planning on M&A growth considering the fact that the market is now being reorganized?

[Interpreted] Well, thank you, [ Jerome ], for your question. This is what we're planning to do. We want to increase market share through organic growth. And that's what this plan is all about.

Secondly, we want to fast track growth formats, convenience stores, of course, as well as supermarkets and also we want to grow our growth verticals. We also want to seize opportunities for rallying under the banner. We want to forge more alliances. And maybe there are assets that will be up for sales, and then we will consider making such an acquisition. We'll do it energetically. And our method has always been the same. We're very selective.

We target growth formats, and we ensure that those growth formats will help us improve our operational profitability because that's our compass. Whenever we engage in growth projects, it should help improve our profitability, but our balance sheet enables us to be active in all markets, including France as well as other core markets.

[Interpreted] [indiscernible] have a question regarding digitization. You've announced a partnership. How soon do you intend to embrace this digital transformation for hypermarkets and supermarkets? And what about the ROI for this technology? You're generating value. And considering the fact that you need to invest in this technology, do you have visibility when it comes to the anticipated gains?

[Interpreted] Now let me say a few words. Obviously, we didn't wait for this partnership with Vusion before we embrace digital technologies to upgrade our stores and irrespective of the jobs concerned, whether replenishing the shelves or working the cash register, we're using technology across the board. But this partnership with Vusion is a paradigm shift. We are scaling up. This means that our stores are becoming smarter.

A number of you have tracked the retail space longer than I have, but stores have improved. They've been optimized. But it's basically the same way of working by and large. So there are inconsistencies, anomalies, there's always going to be shortages price errors, planograms an be unsatisfactory. And sometimes order picking is done manually. Vusion means the end of all of that.

Thanks to Vusion, a store will be exactly similar to its digital twin. And we use data to improve every single process. And when you reduce shortages as much as you can, when you reduce pricing consistencies as much as you can, when planograms are perfectly executed, when store picking processes are optimized for drivers using those digital technologies, but you realize that the productivity gains are huge.

Now I'm not going to give you the ROI because the testing period is still underway, but the ROI is huge. And that's significant. We've worked with Vusion. We've worked with our teams. And because we have an excellent relationship with Walmart, I ask my counterpart at Walmart, whether my teams could spend time there, see how they're working. When you talk to the head of Walmart, he'll say, this is the biggest operational transformation our stores have ever undertaken. And we see the productivity gains that this has generated and also operational gains in stores.

So this is a key aspect. And I'm firmly convinced that if we manage to do things right, -- if we maintain our level of energy, this transformation will revolutionize our stores. And this means additional sources of revenue because this generates data in real time for suppliers. So it's a major undertaking. And together with the rest of the leadership team, I'm firmly convinced that this will radically change our stores. And that's what our friends from Walmart are saying to us as well. Stores have become a digital replica. That's what we're doing. That's what we're testing. That's what we will deploy.

I can see Olivier.

[Interpreted] Okay. Alexandre, 3 questions. First, on price. What's the right price gap with Leclerc? I'm talking store versus store, not drive versus store. Next question, Atacadao opened 2 years ago in France. Does it have a future? If so, what is the potential? And third question, regarding the number of retailers do you have 3 independent retailers, 3 integrated retailers, Ocean Casino and 2 discounters. So that's 8 in total. So by 2030, how many will be left do you think?

[Interpreted] Okay. First question, it was about price. Well, first, we significantly narrowed this price gap. After the hyperinflation period, we positioned ourselves slightly. Now with the Distriprix Net Index, we are between 3.5% and 4%. So my ambition is to improve it every year. But it's important, what we shared with you today. So there's Leclerc, but our customers do not just see Leclerc. And our customers actually see more stores when they walk around. You know it. You know the networks. Intermarche has many stores, for example. And we want to improve our competitiveness compared to the market average every year.

And that's a great commitment for those of you who have been with us for a long time, you know that it's a strong commitment to improve competitiveness versus market average. We will not be a price maker. We do it with a lot of discipline, but we do need to improve our competitiveness because this is what supports our market shares, and this is how we can gain more market shares.

Secondly, about Atacadao, I'm very happy that we tested it on the French market, and it gives us a lot of information on categories that we did not know well and packaging that we did not know well. When we made this announcement, people asked us about the expansion plan, and we said, okay, we want to try it on the French market, and we're still experimenting on the French market.

There is no development plan to date, even if it might change in the future. Third question, the French market. That's something that I discussed with financial analysts. There is this vision of the French market as an anomaly in Europe. something that's highly competitive, something that doesn't exist elsewhere. But it's not true. The French market has streamlined, has consolidated Leclerc, Carrefour, Intermarche. That's 2/3 of market revenue. So when we reach our goals in 2030, and I'm pretty sure that our friends at Leclerc will do the same thing. Just the two of us will be 50% of the market. So the market is consolidated.

When the market is consolidated, it is rational. It's not rational when it's not consolidated and you have players trying to lead aggressive strategies. It happened in the past. But now the market is more rational, more streamlined.

Now to answer your question, how many players will there be in the future? I cannot answer this question. But it's not the most important thing because if there is a small player that's still in the market, but that cannot really influence it, that's not the main point. For us, the most important thing is to be at 25%, and we want the market to function rationally without any irrational price war. That's the reality of the French market today.

I think there was another question on this side.

[Interpreted] [indiscernible]. A question about your partnership with Blachere, the fruits and vegetables, you have 200 corners in your stores. What will it bring to you to do this partnership, things that you cannot do at the moment? More discounted prices?

[Interpreted] That's a great question. We tested it in 30 stores, and we can see that there is a turn know-how. Blachere is one of the best in this industry, one of the best green grocers. And we can see that when it comes to choosing the offering, managing the shelves constantly, this is really well done.

And then you get higher NPS. So first, the weight of fresh products is higher and the NPS is higher as well. So we decided to work with them at a larger scale, 200 stores, and we want to learn from their best practices, then we're going to roll them out. We want to rely on our teams because they're the ones in operations, but we want to use this very specific know-how. We want to roll it out. Since I joined, the company have been obsessed with using the Carrefour know-how, but I want to be open-minded. We need to be open-minded because we want to improve and players in the fresh products industry, the leader of the market and Blachere brought a lot to this industry. That's why we decided to forge this partnership with Blachere for the stores, with Bruno Quattrucci for Marche Frais. They have a specific know-how that we do not have or not at the same level, and we want to develop it.

[Interpreted] [indiscernible]. I would like to go back to the price topic in the fact you want to rely on the Distriprix Index that we know very well. Are you going to be transparent on price gaps between Drive and stores that drive customers have specific offers that basically drive prices are lower than in brick-and-mortar stores at Carrefour. Will you be transparent on price gaps?

[Interpreted] We are as transparent as our competitors. And of course, we rely on you to notice it, and I'm saying this in a very friendly way. We are as transparent as our competitors on this point. This Distriprix Index is not perfect. no index is perfect, but we think it can capture in a very granular manner, all the prices, discounts, promotions. It's a significant indicator that we want to publish every quarter, and we want to improve it. That's our commitment, and we'll do it as transparently as possible regarding gaps. But of course, I'm counting on you to report the gaps when you see them.

[indiscernible].

[Interpreted] I cannot see you. Okay, I can see you now.

[Interpreted] Lease management, franchising, that's half of your revenue, 1/3 of the hypermarkets revenue. To what extent would you like to develop it for larger stores?

Second question on hypermarket profitability. Recurring operating income is not great. It went down. How do you think the franchising system can contribute to improving it?

Third question, Cora. In the annual results yesterday, we saw that Cora impacted the result negatively. When do you think you can go back to breakeven?

[Interpreted] I'm sorry, can you repeat your first question?

[Interpreted] Franchising.

[Interpreted] So we said a lot of things in these plans, especially an acceleration of franchising. For hypermarkets, what we're announcing is the -- is for 2026. We are going to continue the franchising system. 15 per year, and we want to keep seizing opportunities. So you have a list of stores that we are transferring. The second topic about your second question, I think that what you're saying is not true because the profitability of hypermarkets improved significantly since years ago.

And this is also because of our franchising system. If we hadn't transferred more than 100 stores to franchisees, and I would like to recall that they were stores that had structural financial challenges that lost -- they have been losing money, sometimes a lot of money without any corrective plan.

So when these stores were transferred to franchisees. In almost all of the cases, we saw that revenue went up, profitability went up, and it contributes to the improvement of profitability of hypermarkets. That's not the only solution. It also works in the integrated stores, but it's also thanks to our franchising system. And we do have entrepreneurs who invest strongly in stores and who can really boost these stores, and it contributes to the improvement of the profitability of hypermarkets. So we will continue to do that in 2026.

Regarding Cora, you are right. It weighs on the 2025 annual results, but it's no surprise because starting midyear, we started changing the stores and we're implementing the Carrefour business model. So we lowered the prices because there was a 6% gap with Cora. We added our own brands, and this has an impact on value. And of course, there are also logistical natural factors.

So last year, they were around EUR 95 million. So those are integration costs, pure integration costs. But now this is over. So that was really because we moved from one business model to another. So EUR 95 million in integration costs. So what we see now, and it's actually good news, we see that since the end of the year, after we implemented all this for 2 or 3 months, we are winning customers, market shares, and we're going back to growth, and it's continuing this year. So our forecast for 2026 is that there are no more integration costs. The EUR 95 million are behind us. What is left is the implementation of the business plan of the commercial plan that might be impactful at the beginning of the year, but the 2026 result for Cora will be positive, which means that Cora will contribute to the improvement of profitability next year. The result will be positive. Sir?

[Interpreted] [indiscernible] again.

[ Jerome, ] it's you again. I cannot see you very well.

[Interpreted] Three quick questions. The Distriprix price index. Why did you choose this index when there's another one that's used on the market by Leclerc, for example. It's their performance index for large stores. Then you have a very ambitious plan, but there are questions regarding groups of franchisees. So what's your take on that? And you didn't talk about a lot about international countries. Spain delivers surprising performances. What about your market share gain goals for Spain?

[Interpreted] Distriprix is not our index. It's an index that's published by Nielsen. What you can see with this index is that, well, it does not place us in the first position. That was not our purpose. But we want an index that captures the reality of competitiveness in a complex way. It's actually threefold. So you have everyday prices, loyalty programs and discounts and promotions. So that's the reality of customer receipts. You see customers every day and they never say, well, this is the index, but with a customer receipt, they can compare Carrefour to Leclerc or others.

So this index, I think, captures this complex reality with everyday prices. Of course, the other indexes are -- do exist, and I think they're good, but we want to have an indicator that better captures the reality of competitiveness. So that's your first question.

Now convenience stores for Carrefour are a great growth really. So I've been presenting this. Third plan. And remember that at the time, we were lagging behind our competitor, who was a leader for convenience stores. We were told that they had the most powerful formats that they renewed the concept, but we actually took an amazing leadership on convenience stores in terms of market shares, revenue per square meter, and we opened a few hundred stores last year, and we have 6,000 people who want to join us. So we've never had as many applicants for franchising. And we also have master franchisees coming from other banners. So it's working very well, and it's accelerating.

Now we do have disagreements with a very low number of franchisees. Is it comfortable to be in disagreement with one franchisee or a small number of franchisees? No, it's not pleasant. So there's a legal dispute. Our door is always open, and I hope that we can find an agreement with them. Sometimes we do find agreements with the representatives of such organizations.

And that's what we want to do because we do not want our franchisees to be displeased with us. But we're talking about a few dozens people versus more than 500 convenience stores. But even when there's a slight disagreement, we want to find a common ground and move forward. What you said about Spain is right. Spain is at the core of our scope. There is a combination of many positive factors in Spain.

There are extraordinarily competitive hypermarkets, quite remarkable with amazing locations. We're very unique on the market because the leader is very much focused on their own private labels, and we have a broad offering. The know-how of the teams is great, and we fully master this convenience format, convenience stores.

You know that we -- our ambitions to open more stores is great. We're going to grow organically. And just as a segue with your previous question on the French market. If there are opportunities on the Spanish market to get more growth, we will reinforce our market shares through external acquisitions. That's what we did with SuperCor and Supersol, and we will do it if opportunities arise. With the same analysis, we will select these offers very carefully, and it needs to create value.

One last question, maybe?

[Interpreted] [indiscernible], Challenge Magazine. A question on French hypermarkets. They're the format that's suffering the most today, struggling the most. What are your solutions to revive the format? I know that there's an annual EUR 200 million envelope. So how is it going to be used to support these stores?

[Interpreted] I do not really like the idea that the problem would come from the hypermarket format. And actually, the leader in the French market. Well, they're not that small. They have large stores that work very well. And they're actually a hypermarket player. So hypermarkets have a role to play in our formats, but they need to be fully transformed. It's been the case already, and it's going to continue.

So what are we going to do starting now? We are going to get growth everywhere we can find it. So let me explain. I think we may have been too static in our offering. Hypermarkets are a place where there should be innovation and new ranges of products. In nonfood products, but not only sometimes we were a bit too passive faced with new trends, not trying to anticipate trends.

And since last year, we launched pilots, so drugstores, double-digit growth, fragrances, double-digit growth, pet care products, double-digit growth. And we see that in a lot of new categories for frozen good, it's a bit too constrained, but we work on pilot projects. When we work differently, we get double-digit growth.

So there's growth in this market, and we should stop thinking that hypermarkets are struggling. No, hypermarkets that do not function well struggle.

And actually, I worked on that when I joined Carrefour to see what happens. Sometimes it works, sometimes you really -- if you reduce the surface area of a hypermarket, you lose. So you drive past hypermarkets, you go to a mall. That's not what you expect from the offering. That's not what you want in terms of prices.

You want to be surprised, you want to find innovations, and you can find that in a hypermarket. So we have been working on it for 1 year now. We're going to mainstream these concepts. And the EUR 200 million that you were talking about are going to be used exactly for that. It's going to improve the commercial concepts to help us roll them out. We're going to invest where commercial concepts exist, talking about France, but it's what Spain is doing as well. They develop specialized concepts that are amazing and the idea is to get growth where it is to focus on new product range, product ranges.

And I think we've been too static. I admit it. So that's what we're going to work on. And of course, there is the Fusion program. It might seem a bit more technical. But as you can see as consumers, it's not that technical when it comes to focusing on shortages, price consistency planograms, optimized picking in stores, then of course, it means additional revenue. So with all of these programs, we will contribute to supporting the hypermarket format.

My name is [indiscernible] Please remind us all combined the formats, what is the share of franchisee stores in France? And also, what are your targets for 2030? Also, do you have Cora stores as part of the new LGs this year? And if so, how many Coras Franchisees account for 50% of revenue and 100% of convenience stores, 80% of supermarkets and under 40% for hypermarkets.

So if you look at the number of stores that will be converted to supermarkets, so we will jump from 25 to 40. And so the number for hypermarkets will grow, but I guess it all depends on the pace of migration. Regarding the conversion to lease management, this -- in France, we have a number of casino stores and a number of Cora stores, but the list has not been finalized yet. One last question.

[indiscernible] I have a couple of questions. In your previous plan, the online sales target was EUR 10 billion for 2026, but the scope of the group has changed. So does that make a difference? And also in terms of the cost of control plan you talked about this morning, you talked about streamlining efforts at each key level. Is that your first plan for -- I remember in 2018, there was a massive cost-cutting effort. So what's your plan now?

Online sales have not grown as quickly as every expert said they would a couple of years ago. Remember, a couple of years ago, people predicted that Amazon would win that battle. There was a partnership with casino. There were e-commerce players with huge market caps. And yes, there were really strong market trends. My objective back in the day was to bore that train, which was leaving the station. But online sales did grow, but it grew more slowly than expected.

And we grew faster than what I expected. So this means that our target for home delivery in 2030 is 40% versus 20% for drive Click and Collect, and we want to ensure leadership in terms of food sales in Brazil. So we have not achieved BRL 10 billion because we need to look at the underlying factors and those aren't what we expected. So we are growing but faster than the market. Now we want the growth. We want the market to continue to grow faster because that means faster market share gains for us but the market is not growing as quickly as we expected. So I'd like to draw your attention to the fact that we're still generating 20%, 21% growth in online sales this year.

And in absolute terms, e-commerce is still generating growth, but not as quickly as we expected in the -- around 2020. Now getting back to your question, the changes are profound. When I joined the group, I believed right away with every fiber in my body that our headquarters carried too much weight -- was way too complex, too much bureaucracy. Whenever I talk to suppliers, I talked to Philippe Houze, whenever a vendor was trying to work with us, they said, I had to meet a gazillion different people.

I had hundreds of different meetings. It's true, and this is why we decided to streamline HQ functions. Now our approach is much more fine-tuned. Artificial intelligence, we apply to our HQs, and this means that business by business, we need to look at streamlining opportunities because AI means improvement in processes. And sometimes we need to improve processes. That's what we're doing. So we're not announcing a major plan, but we are looking at each business in turn. And each function, whether legal or HR or finance or trade, marketing, all of those functions are trying to use AI to improve their operations to organize HQ the way that it should be organized to be future-proof. So we need to provide more services to our stores, but this does not mean a massive announcement. No, that's not what we're doing.

Thank you. Thank you so much to everyone for attending today's presentation of our strategic plan. Carrefour 2030 starts today. Now together with Matthieu, we'll now meet with financial analysts. Thank you for being here today.

[Presentation]

[Foreign Language]

So hello again, everyone, and thank you for joining today. I'm very pleased to have this opportunity to spend time with you for us. It was absolutely essential to have this dedicated session to put you at the heart of the discussion we have today on this important day of Carrefour. This plan has been, I would say, shaped and influenced by discussions we have with you, with investors. And you've seen that we wanted to continue to deepen our conversation and to engage with you regularly on key topics, especially with a dedicated Capital Market Day starting in June. So without further delay, I hand over to Matthieu for the presentation of the financial wrap-up, and then we will answer your questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Alexandre. So let's start with Slide 61 of the deck that you got this morning with the new format of our financial reporting. So we will now report on 4 distinct operating segments. First, we have France, Spain and Brazil. So these are our 3 key engines of growth and profitability. And so they will be reported individually. Then other geographies, including Belgium, Poland, Argentina will be grouped into a consolidated other countries segment.

Romania is also part of this segment in the pro forma accounts that we provide this morning, but will be reported as assets held for sale in our 2026 publication as per IFRS 5. These 3 core markets are the powerhouse of the Carrefour 2030 plan and the focus of all our attention. They represent 85% of net sales, but more crucially, they generated 99% of recurring operating income in 2025.

As far as other countries are concerned, our strategy is to favor dynamic asset management. So we will continue to work on improving the operational performance in these markets while keeping all options open from growth to total or partial monetization. A single compass will guide our future decisions, maximizing value creation. Let's move one page to Slide 62 to briefly look at why these 3 markets have a strong potential of growth and value creation. So the French market has proven very resilient through economic cycles. It's one of the most concentrated markets in Europe with the top 4 players representing 76% of the market. And further consolidation is underway.

We discussed that earlier today. All players in the French market have competitive but rational commercial behaviors. Hypermarket in France is the reference format. Hard discounters represent 10% of the market and that's a number that is not growing anymore. So we will leverage on our strong #2 position and our powerful brand. Today, we have the highest market share in more than 10 years, and so we will keep increasing this market share on a like-for-like basis and potentially through opportunistic acquisitions, still remaining very selective. The dynamic of value creation will rely on the continuation of the recurring operating income improvement, which is at play since 2018 and Cora & Match who will normalize their profitability.

In Spain, the market is driven by macroeconomic tailwinds and margins, which are above European average. Our position is solid with clear leadership in hypermarkets and national brands. We will leverage our #2 position on that market and our well-performing financial services. Brazil remains our primary growth engine. It benefits from positive demographics, a regular increase in average income and the growing penetration of modern retail through new store expansion. In Brazil, we are the undisputed #1 powered by the price leadership of Atacadao and our unique financial ecosystem with Banco Carrefour.

We will leverage this position to return to profitability levels we delivered in the recent past. Let's move to our real estate portfolio, which is Slide 63 of the deck. So as you know, we view our real estate portfolio as a powerful engine of value creation. So we've decided to provide more visibility on the value of this portfolio and this geographic breakdown. So we have asked over the past few months, leading real estate expert firms for independent value appraisals. It comes out that the value of our real estate portfolio for France, Spain and Brazil amounts to EUR 14.2 billion at the end of 2025. Over the past 4 years, the value of this portfolio has grown by EUR 2.8 billion or plus 25%.

This EUR 2.8 billion value increase include EUR 1 billion of inflation, net of the negative impact of interest rates increase over the period, EUR 1.7 billion of acquisitions, of which EUR 1 billion in Cora, EUR 665 million in Grupo BIG. As part of the regular asset rotation strategy, we have divested EUR 1.5 billion of real estate assets over the past 4 years. And in parallel, we invested EUR 1 billion in new projects, which is included in our annual CapEx envelope. So the net amount, the EUR 600 million has fueled our net free cash flows through '22 to '25. Last, our real estate projects have created EUR 0.6 billion of real estate value. This is approximately the value we have captured in our net free cash flow through the asset rotation.

So moving forward, we will report this updated valuation of our portfolio on an annual basis. Our real estate strategy remains unchanged with more real estate projects and a regular asset rotation to harvest the value creation. It's expected to contribute between EUR 200 million and EUR 300 million to our net free cash flow annually, which is the same magnitude as we did over the past few years. Let's turn now to net free cash flow statement on Slide 64. Through our dialogue with investors, we've heard request for more visibility on cash flow generated from retail operations and from real estate operations.

So we've already provided these details for the past 3 years. But today, we're going one step further and decide to break down our net free cash flow into 2 distinct pillars. The first pillar is the retail free cash flow. So that will capture the pure cash generation from the business, driven by EBITDA, change in working cap, operational CapEx. And the second pillar is real estate free cash flow that will isolate the proceeds from asset disposals and real estate investments. The 2024 and 2025 net free cash flow statements in this new format are provided in the appendix to the press release. I'm sure you've seen that already. Let's turn to Slide 65 on price in France.

So as you've understood from Alexandre's presentation this morning, we will refer to the [ Distripri ] net price index to report on our objective to improve each year our price competitiveness versus the market. I will refer you to Nielsen methodology for details, but in summary, this is the most comprehensive price index. It includes all promotions and loyalty benefits offered to all customers. The only items not taken into account are personalized promotions and benefits. The index obviously is limited to national brands, so excluding private label and fresh. And we understand that Nielsen will publish this index every quarter. So we're regularly questioned about our actual price positioning in the French market.

So today, we're providing details, which was Page 15 of the slide deck. So as you see on FMCG and based on this [indiscernible] price index, Carrefour is tied for second place in the ranking of France cheapest chains. As you know, fruits and vegetables are a key traffic and loyalty driver. Over the past few years, we have invested in our competitiveness, notably with our 10% loyalty discount, which is applicable across all formats every day and for all members. The outcome shows on the page that Carrefour delivers by far the most competitive offering. So our strategy is clear: improve every year our competitiveness versus the market from this starting point.

Now let me walk you through how this plan translates into our financial performance. So our financial equation is summarized on Slide 67. It's a standard model, I would say, for a well-performing retailer. So first, top line growth. As you understood, Carrefour 2030 is a growth plan. Market share will accelerate organically, benefiting from all our initiatives, notably fresh, price, the rollout of proven commercial concepts, expansion in margin-accretive growth formats such as convenience store and Atacadao will also fuel market share growth.

Then margin expansion. The market average -- market share gain will generate, obviously, operating leverage, a positive operating leverage. And we have a proven track record of reducing cost year after year, and this trend will continue with a EUR 1 billion annual cost savings objective. Cost savings will be fueled by traditional levers, but also new ones such as Concordis and more productivity at our head offices and in stores, thanks to technology. High-margin services will also accelerate, fueling the recurring operating income.

Finally, a high cash conversion, increase in EBITDA will allow for significant CapEx and an increase in net free cash flow every year. I'll come to this back in a minute. So let's go now to our profitability target on Slide 68, reaching a 3.5% operating margin by 2030. So this represents a 90 basis point improvement over the duration of the plan. As you can see, we plan to increase recurring operating income and operating margin every year, and this increase will be fueled by each of our core markets. As you see on the right hand of the page, France will be accretive to the group margin expansion. This is explained by a relatively low starting point in 2025 at only 2.4% penalized by Cora & Match and the one-off integration costs.

Cora & Match will normalize its profitability and the historic perimeter will keep increasing its profitability as it has done over the past 7 years. A word on Spain. So Spain will also significantly increase its profitability, although it is starting at a higher level in 2025. We expect profit growth to be fueled by the resilience of our operational model on historical formats, combined with a dynamic expansion in the convenience format as well as our financial services. The macroeconomic backdrop should also be a support in Spain.

Finally, Brazil, it also has significant upside with a modest margin as a starting point in 2025 and a Brazilian consumption, which is expected to normalize. Commercial success at Atacadao in-store and online, cost discipline, process simplification and retail media should support profit growth. So we expect these drivers to support the groups as soon as 2026. In that frame, we anticipate 2026 recurring operating income margin to grow by at least 25 basis points versus 2025. The profile and the main priorities of our CapEx policy is presented on Slide 69. A few remarks. First, the annual envelope is increased versus the past few years. Then there are less countries to be addressed. And finally, we will target more CapEx to our 3 core markets.

So for France, Spain and Brazil, this is a significant increase in CapEx versus past years. Our key priorities are well identified. We're allocating EUR 200 million per year, specifically to modernize our store network in France and roll out our proven commercial concepts. Our technology and data envelope includes EUR 100 million dedicated to AI and notably the rollout of Vusion's technology. And then we will be dedicating EUR 200 million per year to decarbonization and energy projects. This covers energy efficiency, solar panels, which lowers our energy bill and carbon footprint. Let's turn to Slide 17 and our objective to generate EUR 5 billion of net free cash flow over the '26, '28 period with a net free cash flow growing every year.

Let me first highlight that EUR 5 billion for a group worth EUR 11 billion of market capitalization is a significant cash yield of roughly 15% per year. Then the net free cash flow growth will be mainly driven by EBITDA growth. As you see on the slide, most items are expected to be relatively stable over the plan, offering a very high EBITDA to cash conversion. A word on 2026. 2026 net free cash flow objective is to grow over 2025 number of EUR 1.565 billion. That will be fueled by EBITDA growth, consistent with the recurring operating income objective that I just mentioned, including obviously, the absence of integration costs at Cora and Match in 2026. It will also benefit from a reduction in cost of debt of EUR 75 million following the refinancing in 2025 of BRL-denominated debt.

All this should more than offset the increase in CapEx. Let's now go through our capital allocation policy, which is presented on Slide 71. The first item is our commitment to invest into our business. Then Carrefour has a strong balance sheet today. It is rated BBB with a stable outlook by S&P. We think this strong balance sheet is a key asset to conduct our transformation with serenity. So we set the objective to maintain this rating and its stable outlook.

Then comes ordinary dividend. Carrefour's ordinary dividend has significantly increased over the past few years with an average annual growth rate of 15% since 2021. The payout ratio has also increased to reach approximately 60%, an attractive level when compared to peers. We are now aligning our dividend policy to industry standards, referring to a payout ratio. We aim it to be between 50% and 60% of our adjusted EPS. This places us at the top end of the sector. And so with this policy, we plan to increase our ordinary dividend every year.

Finally, the Board of Directors will decide on additional returns to shareholders in the form of special dividend or share buyback each year based on the financial situation of the group and its outlook. I will not comment on Pages 72 and 73, which are in the deck. They wrap up our financial targets and the investment case for reference and for some of your clients. As we presented this morning, Carrefour 2030 is a growth plan aimed at driving sustainable performance and value creation. Thank you for your attention. Alexandre and I are now ready for your questions. So if you want to ask a question, please raise your hand and a microphone will come to you. If you follow us online, you can send your question to Sebastien Valentin. We will bring them in the room here. We have a first question here.

Good morning. Francois Digard from Kepler Cheuvreux. First on investment, please. On your CapEx plan, the previous plan was already, I think, to reach EUR 2 billion per year of CapEx. What has changed and what makes you confident to be able to deliver on this CapEx? More precisely on the VusionGroup partnership you have announced, the EUR 150 million of investment on your side, is it only in France, only in hypermarkets? Because one could have thought that it could be more for with Vusion.

So on CapEx -- on CapEx, -- so the number this year is lower than this one, which is related mainly to the fact that the pace of CapEx in the countries that were supposed to be noncore has been reduced this year. And so we will come back to a level between EUR 1.8 billion to EUR 2 billion. With a number of countries limited when we launched the previous plan, we have 9 countries. And now we will focus the CapEx on 3 countries. Spain, Brazil and France and with very clear vision on where we will invest. We will invest in the modernization of the commercial concept in hypermarkets.

We will invest on tech data on the AI. We will invest on Vusion. Of course, there are other sources of CapEx, but the new elements are this one. Coming to Vusion, you're right, it's an important program, EUR 150 million. It is limited today to France. So it's for hypermarket in France, which means that things can move if we are very satisfied with the first steps, things can evolve in other countries and so on. But today, the program of EUR 150 million is limited to France and hypermarket.

Freddie Wild from Jefferies. So my first question is just about maybe there's, to my eyes, a bit of an inherent tension within some of your guidance committing to those margin expansion in France over the next few years and at the same time, committing to improving your price perception. If the market turns and says, Leclerc does another round of price investment or something else happens, which would you prioritize? Would you prioritize the margin expansion or the price investment?

And my second question is, as I'm sure -- sorry, do you want to go and I'll -- as I'm sure many will want to as well dive into the building blocks of that margin expansion for the group. I guess the first question I've got is how much is Retail Media going to play a part in that margin expansion over the next few years?

Thank you. In reality, we don't see any tension or contradiction in the 2 objectives. The reality is what we have to do is to deliver a high level of cost savings, more than EUR 1 billion, fueled also by Concordis on AI and productivity to fuel the price competitiveness. When we fuel the price competitiveness, we gain market share. And that's the way it has been working for the last 2 years, very regularly. As you see, we don't accelerate. We continue to follow the same line, EUR 1 billion, price competitiveness that has been improved by EUR 2 billion. So we are now at the level that presented Matthieu EUR 3.5 billion, EUR 3.6 billion behind the leader. And we are capable to take the 2 commitments.

We want each year to improve the price competitiveness compared to the average market and to gain market share and to our profitability. And these 2 objectives are perfectly aligned. There's no contradiction at all because when we do that, we get market share versus the operating leverage, and we have a virtuous circle. And you have to take in mind -- so I know that sometimes things have been said about the French market, but the reality is that the French market is rational.

As the other countries the only moment where you can see different type of things were during the hyperinflation because when hyperinflation was around 15%, the strategy of the group, in particular Leclerc was different. But in a normalized inflation between 0% to 2%, everybody is rational. Everybody has costs. Everybody has a profitability to do. Even an entrepreneur, we have franchisees. They want to be profitable also. So the reality is that the French market is rational. It is more and more rational. I was telling previously that as Leclerc on Intermarche and if I add, we account for 75% of the market. And the market was irrational when there were some small players.

Casino, for example, in the previous decade that trigger off a battle. But that's not the case. The market is rational. It doesn't mean that there's no competition. It's very competitive like in every market. There's a competition like in U.K., like in other countries, there's a competition, but there's no irrationality. So as there's no rationality, what we have to do is cost savings at a high level, improve the purchasing power conditions, market share gains accelerating on the growth of proximity. And it's absolutely in line with the objective of profitability and the objective of profitability that Matthieu presented.

Second question was on Retail Media. So you saw the objective to double the size. So today, it's fairly limited. Alexandre said it this morning, the market has taken off very slowly versus what we had in mind when we launched Retail 2.5 years ago. We look at it in the U.S. We see how impactful it is on Walmart's number. We are positioned as a leader there in France and also serving other players.

So we have the best platform. The market is slow. When the market accelerates, it's going to benefit to us. So we have quite confident. We think it's a modest ambition to just double over the coming 3 years. So it will have a limited impact in the number. If the market accelerates further, that will be good news for us versus competitors.

Two questions for me, if I may. Sorry to be potentially a bit sarcastic, but I will try -- you're talking about price investment now, but you've been there for 7, 8 years now. So it appears like you discovered something new. I'm a bit harsh here. But what has changed really in your view, why not making that comment 7 years ago to say, okay, we are not good in prices. We're going to be consistent. It doesn't seem to have been. So now it seems that you are committed to that. So what has really changed there?

And with that question, do you really think the market is rational because we could also have a view where you have been benefiting from weak players, but now they're gone. So potentially it's going to be more challenging going forward. So what is your view on that? The last question is just about the lease management model. Is the plan to have a store manager getting the store and after a few years moving to franchise? If so, how many stores have moved from lease management to franchise over the last 6 years...

Thank you. I want to assure you that I have not discovered that price competitiveness is important in this market. And if you have in [indiscernible] and I'm sure you have what we have done on price competitiveness, you would probably remember that we have made the way the first part of the plan till in hyperinflation. We were around 7%, 8%. We have reduced to 4%. Till the hyperinflation, we were on this road. And suddenly, there was this hyperinflation that we have not known for 50 years with hyperinflation, more than 25% in 2 years on food.

And at this moment, there has been an offensive of Leclerc and we have not reacted as soon as we should have. So we have widened the gap. And so in the last 2 years, we have invested a lot to come back to the previous territory, 3.5. We will declare and #2, #3 in the market. What is new in this plan is not the fact that I've discovered that price competitiveness is important, but it's the fact that I want that we commit on that. And I think it's something important for you to be sure that that's a question of your colleague. We don't do the result at the end of the year with a lack of price competitiveness just because we have a quarter -- we are late on a quarter.

So that's why this commitment is important. We have thought a lot about that because we were sure that we can do without the commitment. But as I understand your question, we decided to say, okay, we want to tell to the market this index has to improve year after year. And that's the commitment. And it's very new for Carrefour, not only since I arrived, but in the last 2 decades, we have moved a lot. This time, you have the starting point, and we want to improve compared to the average level each year.

On the players, first, these competitors are still there today. And secondly, for me, when I analyzed the French market, when there was irrationality that was triggered by small players in the French history. So I don't say that the market is not competitive. It is competitive. I don't say that Leclerc are not good competitors. They are good competitors, but they are rational. And as they are rational because they are entrepreneurs. It's not because you are entrepreneurs that you like losing money.

On the contrary, when I discuss with my entrepreneur, sometimes I heard that okay. But in the French market, it's so different because they are entrepreneurs. But what is different for an entrepreneur, entrepreneur, that's not because he's not listed that he doesn't want to have profitability and free cash at the end of the year. My franchisee, they put a lot of pressure for having accountability on cash at the end of the year. So it's exactly the same thing for. Do they have cost? They have cost.

So the reality is that they would behave in a rational way, competitive. With this program, we are absolutely convinced that we are capable to compete with them in good conditions because we have this program of cost savings, because we have this growth engine with proximity, because we have price competitiveness, all that fuel our competitiveness, our market share gains. That's really the way we think about this program.

Maybe to complement on that, we've had many disruptors over the past 20 years. Over the past 20 years, discussion was about, okay, how are German hard discounters disrupting your model? Will you be able to maintain your margin, your price level and so on? The outcome of that is that today, this is not disruption anymore, okay? This is 10% of the market, the German discounters. It's not growing. So we have addressed that.

And so there is no disruption. It's been a threat. Today, it's not a threat anymore. Then we had disruption from e-commerce players, Amazon buying Whole Foods in the U.S. Just remember what it was in 2017, okay? They're coming, they're disrupting. How are you going to respond? How are you going to maintain your level of profitability with disruptors who have raised billion of capital increase who can lost as much money as they want in a market share building model? How are you going to fight against these disruptors?

Today, they're all dead. There is no disruptor in our industry. E-commerce is done by traditional players like us and our competitors. So I think we are at a very interesting moment of the market and the industry where market -- the French market has consolidated and there is no disruption forces that challenge and threat our profitability pool. I think it's interesting to put the framework for that new plan. Then this management and franchise. So that's the model, okay? The model we've had for probably 50 years coming from [indiscernible] is to say you're an entrepreneur, maybe you have little equity to invest day 1.

So you're going to take a store through a lease management contract. You don't need to bring a lot of capital day 1, but you're a good retailer. And by operating the store through the lease management model, you're going to build up capital. And after a few years, you're able to buy the store and become a franchisee. This dynamic is still very much at play. It's easier to implement it when you're a 1-person entrepreneur in the proximity format. We keep doing it in the supermarket format with bigger groups, and we also do it in the hypermarket format. It's more recent. We started this lease management just a few years ago, but that's exactly the model. And the fresh banners that we announced this morning in hypers will be franchise operated.

William Woods from Bernstein. The first one is on market share. Obviously, excluding M&A, your organic market share hasn't grown at kind of 75 basis points, which it needs to do to get to where your target is for 2030. And you've shown that you're at kind of #2 position on pricing in Distriprix and #1 on Fresh.

Why do you think your market share hasn't been growing? And what's going to change it going forward? And then the second kind of linked to that, do you think you will see that happen in 2026? Or do you think this is more of a back-end loaded plan where you need to build some momentum to get there to 2030? And then the second question is just on your margin targets. Previously, you've been quite cautious about giving margin targets. Why do you think now is the right time to have them? And do you think that's the right way to manage the business internally as well?

I'll take the first one. What we do think is that the starting point is good. We are starting from a strong effort that has been done in the last 2 years to install a good level of price competitiveness. I don't say that we are -- it's exactly where I want to be on the net. But it's a level that is positive for gaining market share in volume and in value.

So we are starting from the good level. And so we are in a position to accelerate. Why it was not the case in the past because we were lagging behind the competitors. So we are at a good level to accelerate. And so it's not as if we launch the plan and tell you, okay, I have 4 years of investment to come back in the competition. We are in the competition now. And so we are capable to gain market share organically starting now.

Well, the margin target is really a continuation of that. We have more visibility. We've done already a lot in the past. And so just coming back on each country. In France, we've had this 7-year dynamic. I mean when we talked 3% margin a few years ago, many of you were doubting that we would be able to reach that point one day. And so we see that each year, we increase the profitability. Each year, we increased the profit in France. And so we think it is deeply rooted in all our initiatives, e-commerce, move to franchise, cost reduction, private label and so on. And so this is here to continue.

And then we have Cora and Match. We know we have a low starting point. We have synergies that are coming. We have one-offs that will disappear. And progressively, the ambition, I said it in my introductory words, is that Cora and Match progressively converge their profitability to where France -- the rest of France is.

In Spain, we have a good model. We have invested heavily in price that did weight on profitability in 2024. That was the year of price investment. We commented on that. Today, we have the best price positioning, very efficient model. The market is dynamic. We have further reservoir of growth with the proximity. So we really feel that we have it in our hands. And then Brazil, we've gone through the integration of Grupo BIG. It's been heavy duty. This is also behind us. We have the best performing model with Atacadao. E-commerce, which is profitable in Brazil has been an incredible success over the past few years, and we think it will keep developing.

We just have a question mark on the Makro in Brazil. That's probably -- and so we think that the starting point is quite tough Makro with the very high interest rates, negative volumes of consumption, notably in the cash and carry market. So we think that if this normalizes, we can easily increase our profitability in Brazil, starting from what we find is a low starting point, 4% profitability margin in Brazil is quite far from the levels that we had in the past. So we think we have ample room to gain at least 90 bps. That's what we showed on the page. We think Brazil should be accretive to the operating margin group increase.

Rob Joyce, BNP Paribas. Do you want to go -- can we do one by one? Is that easier? So first one, just in terms of the shorter-term margin guidance. It sounds like if we look at Brazil in the second half of last year, it's going to be hard to grow margins in '26. Europe, Spain did very well. Rest of Europe getting less attention. So probably a similar performance in '26 versus '25 is probably best case. It means France is probably going to do 50 bps of margin expansion or so to get to that 25 basis points at the group level. Is that right?

So let's indeed take them one by one. I think Brazil, we've had the most difficult semester in terms of volume. And Alexandre said that we've passed the trough of the market pressure with very negative volumes. If you remember, volumes started turning negative in June. So the beginning of the year was quite dynamic. And indeed, Q3, we had this minus negative mid-single-digit volume -- so that has put pressure on profitability.

We see the trend improving. That materialized in Q4 with a better -- still negative, but better dynamic on volumes. And inflation has sharply decreased, notably commodities, you have a number of commodities which have decreased double digits, some of them minus 30%. And commodities is a strong component of the basket of Atacadao and a strong component of what the most modest households buy in Brazil. And so we think that, that is giving back significant purchasing power to these households. And so that will benefit the trend in Brazil.

Then Europe, there's really 2 Europes. There is Spain, and you see the dynamic. And so we feel confident there. We've been penalized also by -- you saw the numbers on Romania. Romania has been declining. Romania, obviously, will exit the perimeter. So that will be good. So we feel quite strong. Then in the other countries, you also saw some pressure on Argentina, where the profitability has decreased. GDP is back to positive. We think we've gone through the austerity measures impact.

And here also, we think the heavy part was in 2025. So confidence there. And then France, underlying dynamic on the business then rebound both on technical and business from Cora and Match. So all this combined leads us to the guidance that we have given. You're right, we didn't give profitability guidance in the previous plan. We do, and we do short-term ones. So that's a message of confidence.

Okay. Second question, just thinking about the free cash flow, and you mentioned that 15% number. If I look at sort of '25, we've got kind of EUR 1.3 billion free cash, EUR 800 million in dividends, but net debt goes up by EUR 200 million. So kind of EUR 600 million reached equity. I'm just trying to think about that EUR 5 billion, how much of that you think is going to reach equity?

Again, so we have a dividend policy, which I think is quite clear. We are starting roughly at 60% of payout ratio. We have given also a guidance of EPS growth. So dividend is set to grow each year. And then we did not -- we've not been specific. We left it to the Board of Directors to decide. Obviously, net free cash flow will cover very significantly the annual dividend. And so the Board will decide annually what's the best use of this cash, analyzing the financial situation of the group. Some potential opportunities, the outlook. So that will be taken into account into a year-by-year basis.

Okay. And just one more. Just back to the philosophical question on the French market and the competition there. I guess 20 years of disruption you mentioned, French margin has broadly halved over that period. And my perception more is that's been driven by Leclerc, [indiscernible] and their pressure on the market. I guess in terms of thinking about, is it rational, was Leclerc rational to take all that margin hit in 2023? And what's to stop them looking for that market share gain again they got there?

You know the level of normative profitability of Leclerc that we don't perfectly know because, as you know, they don't release their results, but they give some elements on Michel-Edouard Leclerc. Personally, I always say where is their average profitability is quite the same than the European leaders in the other countries. They don't have 1% or they have the average level of profitability. That's exactly what put us and decide us to say, okay, we have to tell the market that we are capable to reach this level of profitability. We were at 1.5% when we launched the plan. We have known COVID. We have known hyperinflation and so on and so on.

We are at 3%, except current. So we have doubled this level of profitability in the recent years. And we don't see any reason in the French market itself, why we couldn't be able to continue the road. That's why Matthieu presented the fact that France will contribute at its fair share to the improvement of the profitability. Whatever is the French market that will continue to behave in a rational way. And we are absolutely convinced of that.

It's Lizzie Woo from Citi. I just had 2 questions. So firstly, you mentioned you're looking to accelerate the international franchise expansion plans. I was just wondering if you could give some more color on how you intend to drive that expansion and also the starting point you're coming from at present to get to the #1 position worldwide and in Africa. And then also if you could possibly quantify how that contributes to your group margin target. And I have a second question, but I'll go one by one.

So then in terms of the real estate free cash flow, you've mentioned EUR 200 million to EUR 300 million per year. I was just wondering if you could expand on the key sources of that, including in which geographies you're looking to crystallize value in.

Thank you. On the first question, we have developed in the recent years a fantastic [indiscernible] in Franchise International in opening new countries. It is the proof of the quality of the brand, the worldwide rezoning of the brand, the [indiscernible] of the teams, the capability to accompany entrepreneurs in different countries. Today, we have around 42 countries. So it means that we will add around 20 countries in the future.

We have many, many calls of entrepreneurs, of retailers in many geographies, especially in the African continent to open franchise. And for us, it's a fantastic activity because we develop our presence. We develop our [indiscernible] our brand. We sell our private brands. It gives us some optionalities for the future according to what happened in these countries. So that's really is our fair. It is not material in terms of figures. So we don't have any particular objectives on that. It remains limited. But it's really a growth perspective that is important for our brand, that is important for our purchasing conditions and that offers us some optionality for the future.

Real estate. So as part of the previous plan, we said Carrefour is many businesses. It is retail, it's financial services, it's real estate. And we want all these engines to be working to create value. And so we launched many projects in real estate, and we started to rotate slowly. We sell roughly EUR 500 million each year for a portfolio of EUR 14 billion. This is 3%. So it's slow rotation in order to harvest the value creation. And so we wanted to share with you this morning the value of the portfolio. I think it's important for investors, but also how this portfolio has evolved.

I read some notes saying this is free cash flow. It was said in a smarter way, but you're just selling some assets of the group in order to milk your cash flow. This is free cash flow. Today, your understanding, and I hope that it gives more clarity that we're not selling and divesting the real estate portfolio. It's the contrary. The portfolio has increased EUR 2.8 billion. We have only cashed in EUR 600 million, okay? So we've not even cashed in a fraction of the value that has been created. And so we intend to keep doing that, harvesting the value created by our projects.

So what are the geographies? We're very cautious about what we do. We always make sure that when we sell real estate. We don't put a given store at a lack of competitiveness position versus competitors. So when I have a Leclerc across the street, if the Leclerc owns the real estate, we're going to keep our real estate because that's how the market works. We don't want to have the burden of rent, whereas a competitor wouldn't have the burden of it. But when you say that, there's a number of countries and formats where the market is renting. In Brazil, the market is renting. In smaller formats, super proximity, the market is renting. In Spain, the market is renting. Probably France, hypers, the market is owning.

Auchan is owning its real estate. Leclerc is owning its real estate. So then we have more real estate projects. We have more expansion where we buy the real estate and create value from real estate in Brazil. When we expand in Brazil, you have a field, we buy the field, we create an Atacadao store. We create significant real estate value by doing that. The market is renting. So after a few years, when we have created that real estate value, we can monetize, harvest that value by doing a sale and leaseback. So portion coming from Brazil, I think that's a big part, then Spain and France for the rest...

[indiscernible] One question on the building blocks of the French margins, which is set to grow higher than the group average. I know you don't disclose margin by format, hyper proximity super, but there were articles mentioning that the hypermarkets were negative at EBIT level and that the proximity was extremely profitable. What would drive apart from the, let's say, Cora ramp-up, what would drive the margins in France? Is it more fixing an unsatisfactory level at hypermarkets? Is it going, I would say, further on French proximity? Or what can you say about that?

I would say all of that. So half would come from Cora. And we have presented what would happen for Cora in 2026. And after the model is really to accelerate on convenience, to develop franchise on market. And you've seen that we've accelerated the pace of franchise in Carrefour market. We are convinced that to deploy new families in our hypermarkets, [indiscernible] is triggering a high level of growth, and we see that. We have pilots that we have developed in the last 2 years. And we clearly see figures -- a growth with 2 figures. So it contributes. The development of Vusion, and I was speaking about that previously, but you have to see Vusion as something that would be able to optimize the operation in the stores.

And the reality is that our operations in the store are not optimized. So when you manage well the price, when you manage well the shortage and so on, you contribute to the improvement of hypermarket profitability. So all these blocks will contribute to that, fueled by cost savings, fueled by what we do with Concordis, fueled by our capability to gain market share. But that's really a comprehensive program.

Sebastien, we have a question from people in the distance.

We've received a certain number of questions. We start with a few questions from UBS about group margin in 2026. You mentioned 25 basis point increase in margin. Which markets drive this? And same question about the 2030 plan.

So I think on the 2030 plan, we have a slide and we discussed that. Now on 2026, so obviously, I think the moving parts are quite clear. So we have this rebound from Cora, both the technicals and the improvement of the profitability. Then we have the underlying business, which is set for further profitability increase. Then Spain has a very strong dynamic. Clearly, Makro is supporting over there. So we feel confident. And then we have Brazil, a year that didn't grow, and we decreased profitability by 7 bps. Again, as I answered to Rob earlier, we think that macro has turned the corner and that we will get some tailwind there. So we really see in '26 and for the plan, all 3 core markets contributing to the increase in profitability.

Second question from UBS on free cash flow, EUR 5 billion cumulative free cash flow over '26, '28. If you adjust for, let's say, EUR 750 million of real estate, that means EUR 4.2 billion, EUR 4.3 billion. Can you confirm this? And can you give any idea of the shape of this?

So between EUR 200 million and EUR 300 million of real estate. So that's the framework. And then we said that net free cash flow will grow each year. So we are clear that it will grow above EUR 1.565 billion, which was the 25 number in '26, and it will grow each year thereafter.

Thank you. We're going to switch to a couple of questions from Barclays. First one, the real estate valuation seems to only cover the core markets. How much value is there in the other countries?

So we're just disclosing core markets. This is core. This is where we focus our energy and investments in the years to come. So we did not implement the full appraisal value for their markets. So we are not disclosing that.

Okay. Last question. Guidance for net free cash flow is inclusive of real estate activity, but you have now helpfully provided guidance on real estate contribution. The yield is still well above 10% when stripping out real estate cash flows. How conservative are you? Are your real estate activity assumptions?

Well, we have a good control. So we want to harvest regularly the value created. So we -- I think we have good control on that.

And that's all the questions we have online.

Last one, maybe from...

Yes, last one, Rob? From audience last one.

One question about the asset review. The asset review began a year ago. There have been a rumor about Argentina and over the second half and now 2025 accounts are closed. So my question is, is the sales process still underway? Or is it stopped for a while? And the second question is about credit and financial service. Is this business a core business again? There was some question about it. So what is the conclusion of the asset review...

On the first one, I'm sure you would join me telling that we have worked a lot in this year on the country review. As you can imagine, it's a long process and difficult process. And we have managed both to reinforce our position in Brazil to sell 7% of Carmila and to exit a very difficult country, as you know, that was Italy and to find a good entrepreneur for our activity in Romania. The review is now over. We have 2 type of countries, the core, I would come back -- I won't come back and the 3 other countries. In the 3 other countries, the feeling we have today is that the offers we have received doesn't express the potential value creation that they have. So the priority in this country is to improve the operational activity. We will have a very dynamic asset vision. It means that no door are closed, but the priority for the teams in the country is really to improve the operational to leverage our value creation and to improve that, and we will see what happens in the future.

As far as Financial Services, so they've been part of the review. We said it was a broad review. This activity has gone through -- as an industry through difficult moments when we've had this increase in interest rates to fight against inflation, which has squeezed the financial margins. We mentioned that purchasing power has been fragilized and so the cost of risk in the industry has increased. That was '22, '23.

We're in a very good dynamic at the moment on financial services. We have improved our performance in '25 there, and we think we have very good control of the model, and we set a strong ambition this morning of growing 40% the number of customers. So we're monitoring the dynamic and the situation. So no conclusion, but we keep running and investing into this business.

Probably last one. Accept it as a new one.

Thanks very much. I make the most of my trip to Matthieu. So I've got 2 of them. A lot on franchising. In terms of that margin improvement we've seen, how much would you attribute to the shift towards the franchise model? And the second one is just thinking about Vusion. How much of the French margin improvement are we expecting to be driven by Vusion? And why won't competitors have similar technology over the next few years? So...

Why has the increase in profitability been so regular regardless of the environment, okay, COVID, hyperinflation -- because it's a series of initiatives. So the move to franchise is one. It's one among others, among private label, among e-commerce that has improved among reducing head offices, improving productivity, working on logistics. So it's just one among many other levers. So it's a modest contribution. That's how I would qualify it. But it's an important one. When all these levers, we don't rely on one lever, but they're all important.

For Vusion, we have been impressed. Some teams are -- we have had a very good collaboration with Walmart and before taking the decision of investing on this technology. We have been investing by the way Walmart has implemented this technology and by the level of return on investment they have with that. Why? Because the reality is that it tackles really inefficiency of our processes in the stores. So it's quite difficult today to give you any more detail and because we are starting the implementation with [indiscernible] that you've just seen. But we are very confident about the fact that it would have a strong effect on the profitability, the efficiency, the revenue of our hypermarket.

Last one, Francois.

I'll take this one. Francois from Kepler. There is a level of, let's say, lack of confidence apparently seeing the share price today. Notably, maybe the market share gains targets, 300 bps more or less, so 5 bps per month by the end of the plan. How could you help us to understand how it is feasible? Notably, is there in the past where it was more flattish, and we were happy to see you stabilizing the market share? How is it possible to understand that in the past, maybe some movements like the private label increase that has cost you in terms of value market share is now a bit behind. So some tangible elements to help us believe you in this target.

We increased more than 200 bps in the previous plan. So we have a 300 bps objective. So that's where we're coming from. Clearly, strong ambition on organic market share gains. And I think there is many initiatives in the plan, including the price investment and the CapEx in the stores, there is clearly more money there. And so again, a mix of organic, and we will look with a lot of discipline at potential small acquisitions if they fit our model and if we see value creation potential there. So keeping a very disciplined approach.

Just to conclude on that because it's a very important question. When you look about when we launched the program at the beginning and which has enabled us to double the profitability in France, the private brand was clearly dilutive at the beginning. We were launching. E-com, we were nowhere and it was -- the profitability was terrible. We have no purchasing alliance. So we were buying by ourselves, and we were under competitive at this moment. So we have developed all that. We have worked on all that, not in a day. Let's take the purchasing alliance.

First, we have developed our European purchasing alliance. Now we have a European alliance with other colleagues. So all that, we have had these operational objectives starting from almost 0 on that. So clearly, it was not really cheap. And in spite of that, we have been able to make the way from 1.5% to 3% of profitability in France. Same thing for the price competitiveness. Now we are starting with all that relative on all that, we are on e-com capable to contribute to the profitability. We have the price competitiveness. The private label is the leader, private label.

So -- and we have the purchasing alliance, which is in place, which to negotiate for the first year this year. So we are absolutely not in the same position than in the past. We're really starting with a good level of pace. That's why we are -- we have the conviction that we will deliver both the market share improvement the profitability that we announced while maintaining the price competitiveness. Thank you. Thank you for coming to Massy.

[Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Carrefour Full Year 2025 Webcast and Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Mr. Bompard, Chairman and CEO. Please go ahead.

[Foreign Language] Good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us for the presentation of our 2025 results. As you know, we look forward to welcoming you tomorrow morning in Massy for the presentation of our new strategic plan.

Today's call will mostly focus on 2025 achievements. On a strategic note, we accelerated our portfolio reshaping, taking full control of Carrefour Brazil, disposing of Carrefour Italy and signing an exclusivity agreement last week regarding Carrefour Romania.

If I come to operations, we pushed our transformation on our investments forward in our 3 key countries, and we released today financial results that show steady delivery.

In a nutshell, our performance was solid, with good commercial dynamics in France and Spain, a growing recurring operating income, excluding Cora and strong cash flow generation.

If we deep dive on our 3 main countries. Carrefour France core delivered another outstanding year. We continued to invest in our commercial model and in price, narrowing the price gap with the market. These efforts were recognized by customers with satisfaction continuing to improve year-on-year on NPS up by 3 points in Q4.

In parallel, we opened a record 456 new convenience stores, driven by a record number of new partners joining Carrefour. We also continued the conversion of hypermarkets and supermarkets to franchise and lease management models. As a result, our group's market share increased over the year, with a clear acceleration towards year-end, reaching 22%, its highest point since 2015. This performance was achieved while maintaining strict cost control and capturing purchasing synergies, enabling Carrefour core operating margin to reach the 3% milestone.

Coming to Cora & Match integration. In 2025, the group rolled out its commercial model by implementing significant price cuts in the former Cora hypermarket, substantially increasing the share of Carrefour-branded products in the assortment, underlining the promotional policy with the denser promotional intensity of Carrefour stores.

On one hand, these initiatives had a temporary impact on France operating result with a negative effect of EUR 120 million over the year. On the other hand, these initiatives helped revive Cora & Match with growing traffic and market share momentum towards the end of the year.

Overall, we confirm our synergies target at EUR 130 million for 2027. To finish, in Q4, Carrefour France sales were slightly up in the market, marked by consumer trade-downs on festive products. In January 2026 public data confirmed that the environment was back to a positive trend.

Let's move to Spain. In Spain, we benefit from a solid momentum in a dynamic market. Food sales showed strong growth, up 2.3% in 2025, driven by fresh products. Nonfood sales are also positive. We continue to strengthen our price leadership, and we have reached our best position in the market since 2022 while further expanding our convenience store network. As a result, profitability increased by 13.5% in 2025, driven by both retail and financial services with an improvement of 45 bps in profit margin.

Let's move to Brazil, our third key country. After a strong 2024, the Brazilian market is facing a challenging environment, marked by record high interest rates and negative volumes, particularly in the Cash & Carry segment. In this context, our strict cost discipline helped protect margins.

In Q4, inflation was lower and led to purchasing power games. As a result, volumes were more resilient from mid-single-digit negative in Q3 to low single-digit negative in Q4. The ongoing volume improvement in January seems to indicate that the cycle trough is now behind us.

In total, our group continued to execute on its transformation road map. We strengthened our price competitiveness on customer satisfaction and delivered solid progress across all our key operational priorities, particularly in private label and e-commerce. At the same time, our cost savings plan remains fully on track, delivering EUR 1.1 billion, excluding Italy in annual savings as planned. As a result, recurring operating income increased by 2.2%, excluding Cora & Match. EBITDA was stable and net free cash flow amounted to EUR 1.5 billion, excluding Carrefour Italy.

Beyond financial performance, we also delivered strong results on our social and environmental commitments. We achieved a CSR Index score of 113%. In particular, our Top 100 Suppliers program continues to deliver progress. 87 of our industrial partners are now fully aligned with [ 1.5% degree ] trajectory.

Reflecting this solid performance, we will propose to increase the ordinary dividend to EUR 0.97 per share, in line with our guidance of 5% increase. Following the disposal of Romania and subject to the completion of the transaction, the payment of a special dividend of EUR 150 million will be proposed.

To conclude, building on our financial performance and commercial achievements in 2025, we approach 2026 with confidence in both the underlying market dynamics and our model's ability to capture consumption momentum.

I now leave the floor to Matthieu for more details on our financial results.

Thank you, Alexandre, and good afternoon to everyone. It's a pleasure to be with you to cover our 2025 financial results in detail.

Let's start on Slide 8 of the presentation with the details of our Q4 sales. Total sales for the quarter reached EUR 24.3 billion. Like-for-like sales were up 1.6% over the quarter. Expansion and M&A had a negative contribution of minus 0.7% over the quarter, which includes perimeter adjustments in Brazil, notably after the divestment of Nacional and Bompre o stores. ForEx had an unfavorable impact on total sales growth of minus 2.3% over the quarter, essentially reflecting the depreciation of the Argentine peso and the Brazilian real versus the euro.

Moving to Slide 9. Recurring operating income for the group amounted to EUR 2.158 billion or 2.6% of net sales. As you can see, this full year recurring operating income is penalized by 2 effects. First, a negative ForEx effect of minus EUR 102 million. And then the effect of the consolidation and integration of Cora & Match, which posted a recurring operating income of minus EUR 120 million over the year. This figure includes EUR 95 million of nonrecurring integration costs as planned and guided. We stated from these 2effects, recurring operating income shows growth in absolute terms and as a percentage of sales.

Let's turn to Slide 10 with more details on the performance of France. At 0.4% like-for-like slowdown in Q4 in France compared to Q3. This is due to the market slowing down with consumers trading down on festive products during the Christmas campaign. This was a surprising trend that did not continue in January as evidenced by Circana data. Circana indicates that volumes in the market were down 0.4% in November and down 0.7% in December, and turned back to positive in January at plus 1.2%.

Cora & Match still weighted on like-for-like with a decrease in the average product price following price investments. Excluding Cora & Match, like-for-like sales grew by 0.8%, supported by food sales up 1.3% with an encouraging trend in hypermarkets, where food sales increased by 0.8% in Q4.

The convenience format continued to post a solid performance. In parallel, we continue to expand with 107 new convenience stores opened in the fourth quarter.

Over the quarter, Carrefour maintained a stable market share and managed to further grow NPS by 3 points. Excluding Cora & Match, recurring operating income for the historical perimeter grew by a strong 11.3% in 2025 with a margin expansion of 31 basis points reaching 3% of sales.

Let's move on to Slide 11 with more details on Cora & Match.

First, as we shared last October, the integration process for Cora & Match has been completed in Q3. Total integration costs are slightly below initial targets, a sign that the integration process has been well controlled. Integration OpEx totaled EUR 145 million versus EUR 150 million expected. And integration CapEx amounted to EUR 85 million versus EUR 100 million expected.

Recurring operating income was a negative EUR 120 million for Cora & Match in 2025, including EUR 95 million of nonrecurring integration costs. Excluding these costs, recurring operating income would have been minus EUR 25 million in 2025. This figure has suffered from a decline in gross margin rate versus historicals. As you know, we deployed Carrefour's commercial model within the ex-Cora stores over the summer of 2025. We aligned prices with Carrefour's, which were 6% to 7% lower. We rolled out Carrefour private labels, leading to a 10-point increase in private label's penetration.

And finally, we deployed Carrefour's more intense promotional model. We have buying synergies to compensate for a great part of this investment. But overall, this new commercial model weighs on gross margin of Cora & Match. While this is a short-term headwind on our financial performance, we are already seeing a positive reaction from our customers with number of tickets up 2.9% in Q4 and market share gains since December and an improvement of 20 points in the Net Promoter Score following the integration. With this trend, we are confident in the dynamic for 2026. With this trend and cost synergies progressing well, we confirm the objective of EUR 130 million of synergies by 2027.

Moving on to Slide 12. You can see the evolution of recurring operating income in France for our legacy perimeter. We have consistently increased recurring operating income booked in absolute terms and in terms of operating margin since 2018. In 2025, we have reached the 3% mark, up 31 basis points.

On this long-awaited milestone is a confirmation that all the initiatives implemented in the frame of Carrefour '26, mainly on private labels, e-commerce, cost and franchise are making their way to the bottom line while allowing for further price competitiveness.

Let's now turn to our European operations outside of France on Slide 13, where we have delivered a solid set of results, characterized by improving profitability and resilient top line growth. Like-for-like sales in the fourth quarter grew by 0.9%, closing a full year of positive momentum with full year like-for-like up 1.2%. This was achieved despite a contracting landscape across the region. Performance was led by Spain posting 2% like-for-like growth in Q4 on the back of a solid market showing both positive inflation and volume growth. Carrefour Spain maintained a strong momentum on the back of commercial initiatives that are resonating well with customers. In Belgium, the environment remained challenging yet our operations have shown resilience. We ended Q4 at a slight positive of 0.2% like-for-like, securing full year growth of 0.8% like-for-like despite persistent competitive intensity. Romania also remained in positive territory with plus 0.5% like-for-like in Q4 and 1.5% for the full year. Finally, regarding Poland, the market remained highly competitive and was marked by a slowdown in volumes.

Looking at recurring operating income. Europe grew by 3.7% to EUR 481 million, up from EUR 464 million in 2024. This translates into a margin expansion of 9 basis points to 2.4%. The improvement was primarily driven by a strong increase in profitability in Spain, which combined with a sound execution in Belgium, more than offset the headwinds we faced in Poland and Romania.

Let's move to Slide 14 with a focus on Spain, where we continue to see a positive and dynamic market, driven by both positive volumes and prices. Spain delivered a strong performance this year, confirming its role as a key growth engine for the group. We continued to invest in price over the second half, reaching our best positioning since 2022 and reinforcing our price leadership in the country. We maintained solid commercial dynamics underpinned by a sustained price leadership. Food sales grew by 2.3% on a like-for-like basis. This was powered by a strong performance in fresh products where our focus on quality and availability is clearly paying up. Carrefour Spain also posted positive growth in nonfood, up 0.7% like-for-like. The strong commercial activity has translated into material improvements in our financial results. Recurring operating income increased by 13.5% to EUR 463 million, with operating margin up 45 basis points to reach 4.2%.

Moving on to Latin America on Slide 15. We faced a challenging environment last year characterized by volatile macroeconomic conditions and currency headwinds.

In Brazil, our like-for-like performance was broadly flat in Q4. This primarily reflects the slowdown in inflation and a difficult backdrop as record high interest rates have continued to penalize the market and particularly the Cash & Carry segment. However, we have seen encouraging signs in the underlying trends as food volumes sequentially improved from mid-single-digit negative in Q3 to low single-digit negative in Q4. There was sharp deflation on certain commodities in Q4, helping partially restore household purchasing power. The retail segment showed again more resilience with food sales growing by 4.3% like-for-like, with positive volumes, notably driven by our commercial strategy towards B2B customers. In the meantime, we stabilized sales at Sam's Club, and we continue to grow our e-commerce business by 41% in Q4.

In Argentina, Carrefour delivered 24% like-for-like growth in an environment that remains marked by pressure on consumption. We have successfully strengthened our leadership. We achieved steady market share gains throughout the year in both value and volume.

In terms of recurring operating income, our performance in Latin America remained stable year-over-year at constant exchange rate. The decline in the reported figure is entirely attributable to a negative currency impact of minus EUR 101 million in the region. Brazil delivered a recurring operating income of EUR 709 million and 4% of margin. Margin was down 7 basis points on the back of negative volumes and price investments compensated by cost savings. Argentina contributed EUR 70 million to the group recurring operating income compared to EUR 115 million in 2024. All in all, while the context in Latin America remains demanding, our market leadership allows us to navigate these cycles with resilience.

Coming to our global P&L on Slide 16. Our gross margin rate came down 22 basis points, reflecting our continued investment in prices and the structural shift of our business model towards more franchise-operated stores, which naturally impacts the gross margin rate but is accretive to recurring operating income.

Our strict financial discipline continued to yield results. SG&A expenses stood at 14.4% of sales, an improvement of 16 basis points compared to last year. As mentioned previously, the integration of Cora & Match had a short-term dilutive effect on the operating margin. If we exclude the scope to look at the core performance, Carrefours' recurring operating margin actually expanded by 13 basis points to reach 2.9% for the year, meaning that our core profitability improved, demonstrating the structural dynamic of our model.

Turning to Slide 17. Let's walk through the P&L items below the operating line. Nonrecurring expenses decreased to EUR 62 million, reflecting lower restructuring costs this year.

Cost of debt remained stable. Other financial income and expenses normalized this year after 2024 was impacted by ForEx volatility and costs related to dividend payments in Argentina.

The tax charge amounted to EUR 516 million compared to EUR 302 million in 2024. The increase compared to last year is driven by 3 main factors, the increase in our pretax income, the temporary extra corporate tax for large companies in France and certain nondeductible expenses in 2025.

Net income from discontinued operations was minus EUR 657 million mainly corresponding to the exit of Italy.

So bottom line, adjusted net income group share reached EUR 1.090 billion. This translates to an adjusted EPS of EUR 1.60 for the full year '25.

Now let's move to the net free cash flow on Slide 18. We generated EUR 1.565 billion in 2025, excluding the impact of Italy, which was a negative cash flow of EUR 260 million. That number for Italy is higher than the EUR 180 million negative for 2024, mainly due to the closing date of the sale. Indeed, as we closed at the end of November, we did not capture the traditional positive cash generation of December. This was compensated by a lower cash contribution to the disposal, as I will detail in the net bridge in a minute.

Besides, the cash flow profile for the year was driven by the following elements: first, a normalization of our financial results after being impacted by the negative effects in Argentina in 2024.

Second, lower restructuring cash-outs, which decreased to EUR 189 million.

Regarding working capital, the contribution also normalized at EUR 263 million. As anticipated, this is much lower than the exceptional inflow we recorded in 2024. We are now back in the EUR 100 million to EUR 300 million range of annual contribution to cash flow, as guided.

Regarding inventories, the level decreased by 1.2 days in total.

Finally, CapEx was reduced to EUR 1.523 billion in '25 on the back of lower investments in noncore countries as we post on a number of projects during the strategic review.

Net free cash flow, excluding real estate CapEx and disposals is provided on Slide 19.

Carrefour generated net real estate proceeds of EUR 264 million in '25, slightly up from EUR 227 million in 2024. Disposals were actually slightly down at EUR 517 million. Real estate CapEx were reduced in 2025 on the back of a slowdown in expansion in Brazil. Excluding real estate, net free cash flow totaled a bit more than EUR 1 billion in 2025.

On Slide 20, we look back at our initial assumptions for full year cash flow as shared with you in July. As you can see, most parameters came exactly in line with our expectations.

As already commented, EBITDA was only stable when we expected growth. Cora & Match and weaker markets in Q4 in France and Brazil explain most of the gap. Reversely, our capital expenditures came below initial outlook as we decided to slow down our investments in perimeters under a strategic review.

Moving on to total net debt on Slide 21. Net debt amounts to close to EUR 4 billion on December 31, 2025. Net free cash flow over the last 12 months amounted to EUR 1.3 billion and covered dividend payments and tax paid on 2024 share buyback for a total of EUR 866 million. M&A was an outflow of EUR 106 million, including the acquisition of minority interest in Brazil. Finally, the sale of Carrefour Italy impacted net debt by EUR 181 million, a lower amount than the planned EUR 240 million cash injection due to the closing debt and working capital variation.

Let me now detail a few numbers relating to the disposal of Carrefour Romania on Slide 22. This transaction is based on an enterprise value of EUR 823 million. This implies a valuation multiple of 4.8x 2025 EBITDA, which we believe is an attractive valuation of the asset. You will note that operating margin was 1% in '25 and net free cash flow was a negative EUR 53 million. The closing of the transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to take place in the second half of 2026.

A quick word now on capital allocation on Slide 23. Carrefour continues to follow its disciplined capital allocation strategy, ensuring strong shareholder returns and maintaining a strong balance sheet.

At the upcoming AGM in May, we will propose an ordinary cash dividend of EUR 0.97 per share, reflecting a 5.4% increase compared to last year.

In addition, subject to the closing of the disposal of Carrefour Romania, we will propose a special dividend of EUR 150 million. This EUR 150 million represent roughly 30% of the enterprise value, excluding IFRS 16. This EUR 150 million represent EUR 0.21 per share, bringing the total dividend to EUR 1.18 per share. This represents a cash yield of approximately 8.3% on the basis of the share price as of December 31, 2025.

This concludes my presentation. I thank you for your attention. Alexandre and I are now available to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] And our first question today comes from the line of Sreedhar Mahamkali from UBS.

If I can maybe just get you to help us with 3 things. In terms of the outlook, you made some qualitative comments but there is consensus expectations out there for EUR 2.4 million of ROI. Is that consistent with what you see in your qualitative comments? So that's the first question.

Secondly, Spain, if you could just explain a little bit more, there as a big step-up in the second half performance, it looks like. I think Spain was up 9% in the first half, and now it's up 13%, 14%. Was there anything to do with the base, i.e., provisioning in the financial services a year ago being higher and not as high this year. If you could just explain what else drove that really strong commercial performance in Spain?

And thirdly, just very quickly on France, you've talked about improving position, underlying market share so seems to be grinding rather than firmly moving forward. Clearly, externally, also your price position has improved over the past 18 months. Is this enough? Or do you need to do something materially different in France to move back to firmly gaining market share.

Thank you for the series of question. Maybe a few words on 2026 even if the main points will be developed tomorrow morning. But just to answer your question, we are confident in 2026 for a number of reasons coming from good market outlook, solid underlying business dynamics at Carrefour and supportive technical swings.

So if I jump to the business outlook for our key markets, we do think that France has delivered a very solid performance when analyzed without Cora & Match based on our own strategy, but also on a solid French market that turned positive to volumes since Q2. We have positive volumes in the French market since. Q2.

It remains extremely rational as we had expected, and we anticipate the same type of market trends for 2026. And the initial hampers for January reinforce our confidence. The public data shows that volumes are positive in January while it was negative in December because of trade-offs on festive products. So that's for France.

Spanish market was solid -- very solid last year, probably the best in Continental Europe. We had a very, very good level of competitiveness. We are a price leader and we reinforce our price leadership. We see no reasons for a change in business trends there, but very solid macro drivers. And we see no reason why we wouldn't continue to reinforce our leadership in price. So we are very positive in Spain.

Last, Brazil. So the conviction we have is that we probably turned the corner in Brazil with the macro. Volumes were better oriented in Q4, low single-digit negative, while mid-single-digit negative in Q3.

As Matthieu said, we saw a decrease in commodity prices, which are an important part of our sales. It has strengthened our customers' purchasing power. And I would say, besides we know by experience that election years often mean government support to consumption, which should also help.

So we really think we have turned the corner in Brazil with macro, and we have good prospects for 2026. And of course, it is reinforced by our price leadership, by the cost -- also by the cost-saving plans we have developed throughout the year.

So the outlook of the market and the good business dynamics of Carrefour convince us that the 2026 year would be positive.

Besides, we have a bunch of positive technical. The integration cost of Cora & Match are now behind us and they are complete. Since the end of the year, we see that the stores are ramping up, better ticket, better market share, better like-for-like as well as the synergies. And we do think that the year will be positive in terms of recurring operating income for Cora.

Last one, the reduction -- the additional EUR 75 million reduction in cost of debt, thanks to the restructuring of the Brazilian debt last year.

So all in all, you see that we have a good level of confidence with the market on our own business dynamic, reinforced by technical swings. So that's for the outlook.

For Spain, you're right, the trend was very positive in the second part of the year. To be honest, we see this trend for a few quarters now. The team has made a very good job to reinforce the price positioning. The market was positive in Q4.

Same thing in January. So we have a good level of comfort about our situation in Spain. And financial service contributes to the improvement of the recurring operating income also.

When I come to your last question about France, we won't change what is working and the conviction we have is that we invested the right amount to stabilize our market share including Cora & Match in Q4. We plan to continue to invest in prices to drive more customers back to our stores and to retain them. We can finance that through our cost savings dynamics and our buying alliance, Concordis, and we will talk more about this tomorrow morning.

Got it. Just really to follow up. I'm trying to understand if that confidence equals to or is consistent with the expectations out there for 2026 operating profit? Or do you think it's a bit too early to talk to a consensus number in the year?

Let's keep it for tomorrow, Sreedhar. There will be much more granularity given including on '26. And so let's keep it.

And your next question comes from the line of [ Fabien Lemoine ] from Bank of America Securities.

Two, if I may. First one, can you give a bit more color on the 30 bps margin improvement you see in France. So what was really the operating leverage that you've seen? Is it about volumes, cost savings, certainly combination of 2. But can you potentially explain a bit more -- give a bit more granularity on this 30 bps margin improvement in France, excluding, of course, Cora & Match?

Second thing, we heard in the press that you would be potentially considering the disposal of some of the Cora stores. So any comment there? Are you happy with the 60 hypermarket that you've got there? And the last comment -- question is, can you give us the amount of synergies that you had for Cora in 2025 because it was positive, but how big was that?

Thank you for the question. So you're right. In France, it's a very important milestone for us to reach 3% profitability. We have doubled this number in a few years. And that's the result, I would say, and this year also a very constant strategy. This year, we have delivered a high level of cost savings in France. It has enabled us to have a good dynamic in terms of market share in volume. The market was positive in volumes in 2025, and it will be in 2026. We have a good dynamic on e-commerce. We have a good dynamic also on convenience store with record number of opening this year. All in all, it has enabled us to reach this very important milestone, which is the result of a very solid, steady and constant strategy we are leading.

On Cora stores, so there's been rumors that there were discussions on a very small number of stores where we are thinking about the perimeter, which is, again, just a full maximum of stores, which is quite typical when you have made an acquisition. We are just checking if the stores will create most value in our network or in another network. But it's just high level thoughts, no decision taken. Can you exactly repeat your third question?

Yes. It was just about the synergy with Cora in 2025. You saw a chart when you obviously benefited already from some of the synergies in 2025, just to guesstimate what the amount was.

So as you saw on the graph, there is no specific amount. What's interesting is -- so it's a relatively small number so far, which -- to make it more interesting, which is a mix of, in fact, quite good cost synergies and the work has been done very, very well there. But this is compensated by negative so far commercial synergies, as you saw on the recurring operating income. So the net amount is relatively small so far.

But as far as 2026 is concerned, we're quite comfortable because, again, the commercial dynamic is improving very, very quickly. And the cost dynamic is here and it's just going to be reinforced.

So that's why we have quite good level of confidence and even visibility on the ramp up of the synergies for '26 and good level of confidence for '27 because we see that the underlying trend is here. It's gaining traction and customers are clearly accelerating their visit and even sales despite price decrease, even sales at [ tax costs ].

Your next question today comes from the line of Francois Digard from Kepler Cheuvreux.

First, on the convenience stores like-for-like in Q4, it's a bit weaker than it used to be. Is there any trend? Anything to comment on that? That's the first question.

Then could you highlight the moving parts of your cost of debt with minority buyout financing on one hand, but the refinancing in Brazil starting to contribute on the other hand? And what should we expect in terms of level of financial cost next year?

And third, if I may, it was quite surprising to see the CapEx going down. Could you help us to understand what is underlying in the amount? What is there to stay -- what -- how do you consider that in percentage of sales, for instance, to what do we have to keep in mind for the future, whatever the perimeter is going to be?

I would take very quickly the first. No, nothing new on the dynamic of convenience. I would say maybe only the fact that they have probably suffered a little bit also by the trade-off on festive product at the end of the year. But the dynamic of the year has been very, very good under the number of new stores, the commercial dynamics, the implementation of the new concept that we have tested this year is very positive also. So everything is positive with the convenience and nothing special on the commercial dynamics in Q4.

On your second question, Francois, regarding financial expenses, so indeed, the -- so we're expecting as planned, an additional EUR 75 million of contribution to net free cash flow, which is a post-tax number for '26. We already had EUR 25 million captured in the 2025 cash flow. So the net cost of debt really that sub line for 2026 is planned to decrease quite significantly with that number, gross of tax impacting the line.

Then CapEx. So a number of arbitrage have been made during the year. So first, expansion in Brazil has slowed down. It has slowed down in the market on the back of the environment that we described. It has also slowed down at Carrefour, and we know that this expansion at Atacadao is quite costly as there are some real estate involved.

We have also cut a number of projects and development on the CapEx of the smallest countries. As part of the strategic review, we said that it was meaningful to make sure we have just the right and minimum level of CapEx in these markets given the review undergoing.

And then in France, we increased the CapEx. You will see that in the detailed numbers, we increased the CapEx. As Alexandre announced at the beginning of the year, we want to invest more on 2 main topics. First one was in the transformation of the stores and development of some commercial concepts, and we talk more about that tomorrow. So we have invested more on that. And we have also invested more on our logistics, which was also part of the plan to ensure smooth efficiency of our operations and also reduce our logistics costs.

And your next question comes from the line of Geoffroy Michalet from ODDO BHF.

I have 2 questions. First one is on capital allocation. What was the driver that led you not do a new share buyback? I mean how do you intend to use the Romanian proceeds since you will spend only, let's say, 30% of the proceeds in exceptional dividend.

And the second question is on the relation with the unhappy franchisee in France. We've seen reports in the press. And my question was, how is your feeling or thought as of now with the latest development.

Thank you very much, Geoffroy. So indeed no share buyback. We still -- we know that we have this tax in France, which impacts us significantly. Then it's relatively small amount this EUR 150 million. So like we did last year, we have elected for special dividend.

Then Romania, so we wanted to have a portion of the proceeds to come back to shareholders as the valuation was quite a good one. The rest remains on the balance sheet -- will remain on the balance sheet for flexibility and a number of opportunities. And so that will be discussed also tomorrow as part of the capital allocation section of the strategic plan.

On your second question, you know the main numbers. So we opened almost 500 new stores this year. We have 6,000 candidates to new franchise stores. We are not far from 6,000 stores in France. So the convenience stores for the franchise is working extremely well. We have this agreement with a slight number of franchisees. I request that as we already told, the door is always open to discuss and to find a definitive agreement. And I'm sure that in the future, we will manage to do that.

We will now take our final question for today. And our final question today comes from the line of Rob Joyce from BNP Paribas.

Three from me as well. So the first one, just to understand the base and how we think about profit growth in France. So I think originally, Cora was going to be EUR 75 million of recurring costs in ROI. Is this now EUR 145 million, just to confirm? And then do any of these reverse next year? And should we be thinking of Cora? Do we have any more costs to incur in '26? Or is it growing profits from here?

And second one is just thinking about that free cash flow target, I think you had at EUR 1.7 billion for 2026. Just want to understand if that's still one you're confident in achieving.

And then the final one, potentially related, just in the main release, there seems to be quite a lot more disclosure on factoring of receivables, now mentioning France as well as Brazil on a total balance of around EUR 1.4 billion in factored receivables. Can you talk us through what you're doing in terms of factoring receivables and how this impacted the working capital in 2025?

Thank you, Rob. So first question on one-offs. So I mentioned -- so I refer to Page 11 of the presentation. So I think that there's 2 elements. So first, the total amount of integration OpEx accounts recorded on H2 '24 and full year '25 indeed amounted to EUR 145 million. That compares to an initial guidance of EUR 150 million. So as I said in my speech, we have very well controlled that amount.

Now looking just at 2025, the extraordinary OpEx are just EUR 95 million, which are accounted in the recurring operating income of minus EUR 120 million. So let's be clear, integration is complete. There will be no more integration costs, OpEx, nor CapEx next year. This is done. So now Cora & Match is really a normal and going concern business. So that's why I flagged the minus EUR 25 million for the euro ex one-offs. I think this is the base.

I have explained that we have some pressure from all the commercial investments that have been made, but the commercial dynamics, which was by construction, quite slow at the beginning is ramping up. So we have much more positive prospects for 2026.

Now on free cash flow. So you're right, we have this EUR 1.7 billion target. So 2025 is at EUR 1.565 billion. There's a number of exceptionals in this number that I'd like to flag and which obviously will disappear. So for next year, obviously, the Cora & Match integration cost of EUR 95 million that I just mentioned will not be present. They have also weighed on the net free cash flow. Then we will benefit from EUR 75 million from the refinancing of Brazilian debt.

And you may remember, I'm sure you remember, that in H1, we had a negative EUR 80 million working cap impact at Cora. That was the first time that we consolidated Cora on an H1, which is typically a negative net free cash flow semester due to the seasonality. Obviously, that would be part of the historicals in 2026. And so we won't have that benefit. So this is all in roughly EUR 250 million. So you see that the EUR 1.7 billion is at sight for 2026. We will come back in more detail on the outlook for '26, as I said to Sreedhar, tomorrow.

Final question is on receivables. So we started, as you flagged, to disclose the number of receivables, which is sold. This is mainly -- and I think we already commented on that in the past. This is mainly the credit card receivables that we have in Brazil. As you know, we have a few years ago, started to accept credit cards. Then we used historically to accept only cash payments.

Credit cards, you get the money after 30 days. So you have a receivables that is created. And we expanded the facility through 3x installments, which for our consumers, which is appreciated in the current environment. And so it means that we get the money after 30, 60 and 90 days, 1/3 each, obviously, creating more receivables.

And so these receivables are sold not entirely, but that's a way to finance the increase of receivables. We don't even sell all receivables, so we finance a little bit of through our EBITDA generation, but that's the financial resources that we use, and that is disclosed in our financials.

And what's happening in France, sorry, Matthieu, in terms of the receivables?

We have some receivables relating to franchisees. So the bulk is in Brazil. Then we have some receivables from franchisees, something we developed our activity with franchisees with an increase of receivables. And so again, a portion of the receivables is sold to financial institutions to limit the negative impact on the working cap.

And the year-over-year impact, just to round out the question? You have the year-over-year impact overall?

So overall, selling receivables, it's neutral year-on-year. And so it means that the increase in activity and increase in receivables is somehow negative on the net free cash flow of the year.

Thank you. That was our final question for today. I will now hand the call back to the room for closing remarks.

Many thanks to all of you. See you tomorrow to discover what's next. Thank you.

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Carrefour Q3 2025 Sales Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Matthieu Malige, CFO. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you. Good afternoon to all of you, and thank you for attending our 2025 Q3 sales call. I'm here with Sebastien Valentin, Head of Investor Relations and our IR team.

Before we get into the numbers, I would like to remind you that Carrefour's operations in Italy are now accounted for as discontinued operations in accordance with the IFRS 5 accounting standard. As a reminder, the key restated figures for 2024 and H1 2025 were posted a few weeks ago and are available in the Finance section of our website.

Let me start with a few key highlights before we get into the details of our third quarter sales. This quarter, we delivered positive like-for-like growth across France, Europe and Latin America, resulting in the total group sales up 2.1% on a like-for-like basis. That performance was clearly driven by food sales up 2.9% like-for-like over the quarter at group level. Throughout the quarter, we continued to see dynamic markets in Europe, notably in France and Spain.

In France, the positive momentum initiated in the second quarter is confirmed, driven by growth in both volume and value despite a demanding comparison base linked to the Olympic Games in July and August 2024.

FMCG market share is stable over the quarter with a sequential improvement that I will comment in on a minute, notably in view of the latest data released this afternoon by Worldpanel by Numerator ex-Cora.

Over the quarter, Carrefour legacy stores have continued on a positive trend across all formats, in particular in hypermarkets and proximity. French hypermarkets, excluding Cora, reaped the benefits of 2 years of price investments and improved operating excellence. Q3 like-for-like at plus 0.5% is similar to Q2. Food like-for-like even accelerated in Q3 at plus 1.7% versus 1.2% in Q2.

In Spain, the food commercial trend is still strong and similar to the one of Q2. On the other hand, in Brazil, we observed a general slowdown and negative volumes in the Cash & Carry market since May as high interest rates are affecting the purchasing power of customers.

Atacadao outperformed its market again. The group also sustained a robust performance in e-commerce with GMV up 18% year-on-year in Q3. In parallel, Carrefour continued to progress on its strategic review with a few initiatives during the quarter. Firstly, the disposal of Carrefour Italy is progressing and is expected to close by the end of the year.

Secondly, Concordis has successfully launched its international expansion with the integration of the German group, RTG International, bringing the alliance total revenue to over EUR 125 billion.

Finally, the group has refinanced EUR 1.4 billion out of the EUR 1.5 billion of BRL-denominated debt. The refinancing of the remaining EUR 100 million is currently underway.

As already mentioned, we estimate this refinancing will deliver a positive impact of EUR 100 million in net free cash flow and net income for the full year 2026 and EUR 20 million to EUR 25 million already this year.

Although this is a sales call, I can share that operating performance has been good and cost savings at the end of September are in line with the annual target of EUR 1.2 billion, which is confirmed. On that basis, we confirm our financial targets for the year.

I will not walk you in detail through Page 3, which is straightforward. Just highlighting that expansion and M&A is negative 0.6% over the quarter, which includes perimeter adjustments in Brazil after the divestment of Nacional and Bompreço stores.

Also highlighting that ForEx at minus 2.8% is far less negative than it was in H1 or Q2 as BRL has appreciated against the euro in Q3 and parity is almost stable since the beginning of the year.

Moving on to more details on the performance of France on Slide 4. The improvement observed in the French market in Q2 confirmed this quarter with robust food consumption holding up well, particularly in September. The latest data issued by Worldpanel by Numerator that just came out on the FMCG market shows growth of 2% in P10, reflecting a sound improvement after summer.

In this solid market, Carrefour gained 30 basis points in market share, reflecting strength in hypermarkets, up 10 basis points, the success of our commercial initiatives, brand Carrefour's anniversary in September and the initial ramp-up of the ex-Cora stores.

With this supportive market backdrop and improving commercial dynamics, like-for-like sales were up 0.7% in Q3 and 1.6% excluding Cora & Match, continuing the positive like-for-like trend from Q2 despite 2 days of national strike in September, which we estimate weighed on like-for-like sales by around 20 basis points over the quarter.

This performance was driven by food sales growing at plus 1.5% like-for-like with positive volumes in a rational market environment.

Let me flag that Proximity posted another strong quarter despite high historicals relating to the Olympics. 75 new Proximity stores were opened during the quarter.

On Slide 5, we detail the commercial transformation implemented at Cora, which is now completed. All Cora stores have been converted to Carrefour's banner, benefiting from its brand awareness. The alignment of prices to Carrefour's level is clearly visible and resulted in an improvement of our price image.

Carrefour branded products have been rolled out and now represent 28% of food sales, an increase of 8 points compared to September 2024. Carrefour's promotional framework has been deployed across ex-Cora stores, implementing a more regular and dense promotional agenda.

And finally, the loyalty program, Le Club Carrefour is now active throughout the network with 1.7 million new active members from the ex Cora stores. While this negatively impacts our top line in the short term, we already see clear signs of improvement with a gradual acceleration in the number of tickets and improved customer perception.

In parallel, we continue to build up the synergies related to the integration of Cora & Match in line with our road map, and we confirm our target of EUR 130 million by 2027.

Moving on to Europe on Slide 6. Carrefour posted another quarter of growth, driven by a sound performance on Spain and Belgium under a supportive consumer environment, offsetting soft trends in Poland and Romania.

In Spain, we have a solid momentum in a still supportive market. Food sales grew at 2.4% like-for-like in the quarter, in line with Q2 growth, which stood at 2.9% like-for-like.

Carrefour continued to improve its price positioning, which drove the NPS up by 2 points. In Belgium, like-for-like sales increased by 2.1%, outlining a solid commercial momentum driven by positive volumes despite a competitive market.

In Romania, the group managed to post a slightly positive performance despite a context of degrading consumer confidence following the austerity measures implemented from July.

Finally, the Polish market still remains highly competitive, which weighs on our performance. Nevertheless, our commercial initiatives are well perceived as evidenced by the strong increase in NPS, up 6 points.

Let's move on to Latin America on Slide 7. In Brazil, since May, the market is marked by a difficult backdrop with record high interest rates impacting strongly consumer purchasing power, notably in the Cash & Carry market with negative volumes, whereas retail, Varejo seems more protected. In this context, Atacadao like-for-like remains above the like-for-like of the Cash & Carry market, but suffers from mid-single-digit negative volumes.

Our Retail segment remained solid. Carrefour Retail posted a strong performance on both hypermarkets at plus 3.3% like-for-like and supermarkets at plus 4% like-for-like with volume growth and managing to grow the NPS by 4 points.

Carrefour's overall retail reported like-for-like was moderated by the slowdown in nonfood e-commerce as Carrefour Brazil prioritized profitability over volume in its nonfood digital operations.

E-commerce continued to show robust growth. Our overall e-commerce GMV accelerated by 36% in Q3, boosted by a plus 62% surge in online food sales.

Financial Services also showed solid momentum with the credit portfolio up 17% in spite of reinforced selective measures in place. Finally, one word about Argentina, where Carrefour's commercial momentum shows market share gains in an environment still shaped by negative volumes on the back of pressure on purchasing power.

Finally, let's move to Slide 8 for closing remarks. All in all, this quarter confirms the strength and consistency of Carrefour's performance across its key markets.

Firstly, a sustained momentum in France and Spain with French hypermarkets performing particularly well, driven by food. Secondly, in Brazil, we continued to outperform a difficult market.

Finally, we are moving ahead on all our strategic initiatives. Overall, we confirm our 2025 objectives of slight growth in EBITDA, recurring operating income and net free cash flow. I thank you for your attention. Sebastien and I are now happy to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions]

Your first question today comes from the line of Frederick Wild from Jefferies.

The first one is, could you give us a little bit more detail on the current trading in France, especially post the completion of the Cora renovations and whether that Cora business is now accretive to the overall like-for-like in France?

Second, would you mind giving us a bit more detail about what happened in Brazil? I think we're all a little bit surprised by the scale of the slowdown in like-for-like there. So any comment you can give on that market and Q4 would be very helpful.

And then finally, almost further from that, you've reiterated your full year guidance for slight growth in EBIT. What gives you confidence in that guidance now you're experiencing that extra slowdown in Brazil and how margin dilutive that slowdown will be?

Thank you very much, Frederick, for your questions. So first one on Cora. So the -- as you saw in the restated number, so Cora has negatively weighted on the like-for-like of France in Q3. As I said in my comments, the commercial transformation is now complete, and we see traffic in the stores and debits in tickets and the stores ramping up very rapidly.

We also see a more soft data like Net Promoter Score has also improved very rapidly over the past few months. So we are still, I would say, suffering in terms of like-for-like sales by the magnitude of the commercial investments that I have developed during my comments.

The commercial investments that we have implemented in the Cora. But we see that the traffic and the dynamic is positive, more and more positive month after month. And so we think we're really engaged now into a very good and we think long-standing dynamic at Cora. It had to be done. It was part of our plan. It's been executed perfectly as planned, and now we see customers already reacting. So this is to be followed, but interesting reactions.

Now Brazil. So Brazil, as you know, interest rates are very high. They're above 15%. As you know, a number of households in Brazil have a significant level of indebtedness. And so this high level of interest rates, which have increased relatively sharply over the course of Q4 last year and H1 this year are putting pressure on the debt and interest burden for these households, notably the most modest households. And we've also seen a number of credit institutions, which have reduced granting of credit, notably consumer credit in order to make sure that they manage their level of risk.

So the consequence of that is that the Cash & Carry market has entered into negative volumes. It actually started in May, as I said, Q2 benefited from very strong Easter campaign and a number of campaigns that we did at Atacadao that we already started to see in the market that volumes were under pressure at the end of the quarter, and that has continued -- that has not worsened, but that has continued over Q3. So that's something that we started to see coming.

If you take back our H1 press release, we mentioned it. So this is what we see. So we're adapting our model, our operations, reinforcing obviously, our cost savings in order to navigate through this environment.

The retail segment, Varejo is exposed to customers which tend to have a higher purchasing power and who seem to be less exposed to this level of high interest rates. And so the Varejo retail market is more resilient, which allowed us to post stronger numbers than Atacadao.

Then your third question relates to the outlook and the guidance for the end of the year. Well, there is very, I would say, little or positive development over Q3. So that's why we confirm what we already confirmed in July.

You've seen -- so the trends in Brazil had already been factored into our landing of the year. In Europe, we were confident at the time that markets would remain positive. They have remained positive in Q3. So this is on these grounds that we confirm our guidance.

Your next question comes from the line of François Digard from Kepler Cheuvreux, please go ahead. François, is your line muted? François, your line is open. I will move to the next question. One moment, please. And your next question comes from the line of Rob Joyce from BNP Paribas.

I've got three of them. The first one is just in terms of the guidance and the confirmation of small underlying profit growth, can you say if you still expect to grow underlying profits, excluding the sort of EUR 70 million tailwind from Carrefour Italy moving into discontinued? That's the first one.

The second one is just sort of drawing on Freddie's question, but when is Cora & Match no longer going to be pulled out as a sort of headwind? It feels like that sort of headwind has dragged on quite a bit further into this year than maybe we expected. And maybe can you just give us an idea what the total profit impact would be in the second half in France from Cora, and then finally, now you're pretty close to closing the Italy transaction. Are you able to help us understand what the total cash out from Italy will be the EUR 240 million and then whatever cash losses there have been this year and whether there's any impact on working capital from deconsolidating the asset?

Thank you, Rob.

So on the guidance, let's be clear on what is the base for us saying that we are expecting slight growth. So you have to restate for Italy. So last year, we published a recurring operating income of EUR 2.213 billion. That was impacted by a negative EUR 67 million in Italy. And so this year, the pro forma number is EUR 2.280 billion as the new reference base for 2024. And so we confirm that our objective is to slightly grow from that base. And you can do the same math with the EBITDA that we published in July.

As far as the net free cash flow, as you know, under IFRS 5, you do not take Italy out. It's isolated on dedicated line, but there is no restatement of the historical number. So the historical number that was published last year is the reference.

Now moving to your second question relating to Cora. So Cora is now part of the like-for-like from this Q3 for the first time. We've identified what were the impact so that you could have a more granular reading as the trends of ex Cora Match perimeter is different from the legacy business. So we've provided you additional information for you to be able to feel the impact of both perimeters.

And then there's a number of one-offs, and so we disclosed in H1, what was the performance, I mean, recurring operating income performance of the legacy perimeter and of the ex Cora, Match perimeter, it's very likely that we will do the same for H2 and for the full year so that you can have a granular reading as these perimeters have different dynamics.

Okay. Matthieu, just to confirm, though, for the second half there to get to the EUR 2.280 billion underlying some growth on that. We're talking about EUR 2.3 billion. I think, again, drawing on Freddie's question, just which divisions are going to deliver the sort of the growth to see that through? Any particular highlights.

Well, again, same answer as what I shared with you at the end of July. You've seen no significant news. Most of the development that happened here, we anticipated them. There's a number of good news. I think that our commercial performance in France is positive. The fact that the market has been supportive and that we have experienced, I mentioned that in my speech, I just want to make sure you flag -- you pointed that.

We have positive volumes, which is good. Same thing in Spain, and Brazil was relatively anticipated. In parallel, our cost savings initiatives are performing per plan. So we are happy with that, and so this is why we confirm our guidance. Now I'm not going to get into a format or country-by-country guidance, but that's where we are.

We will now go to the next question, and the question comes from François Digard from Kepler Cheuvreux.

So on the last quarter data, could you clarify Carrefour's market share in France, excluding Cora & Match, was it stronger, excluding Cora & Match? Can you elaborate on the more Carrefour impact versus last year? And my second question would be on Brazil, how did Brazil perform sequentially through the quarter?

So well, we just got the data a few minutes ago. So we need it to be analyzed. Our feeling is that the market share gains comes from the legacy perimeter including the hypermarket perimeter and the contribution from Cora & Match is very, very marginal. Overall, that's softening. It needs to be confirmed with them, but that's our overall perception.

On the...

Sorry, second question on Brazil, where relatively steady performance through the quarter, as I said on the previous question, the trend in terms of market dynamic and volume dynamic has been relatively similar through the month around mid-single-digit negative in terms of volume. And so there's been no significant evolution in a way or another.

On the first question, have you seen any impact of the took more Carrefour that took place during P10, I believe?

Yes. So you're right, it happened. So more Carrefour is the anniversary, which is a commercial event that we have each year. It was exactly on the same weeks. So there is no any calendar impact there. It's true that it's been strong on the back of a regular improvement that we share with you of the price image and the Net Promoter Score relating to our hypers. And so same calendar and very good performance of the French teams with strong promotions, which have worked well.

[Operator Instructions]

We will now go to the next question. And your next question today comes from the line of Geoffroy Michalet from ODDO BHF.

I have one question regarding France. It seems that the nonfood retail part is decelerating in Q3 versus Q2. Do you see any -- this trend continuing? What's your view for Q4 on this topic? The second question I have relates to Poland. You flagged your improved NPS. When do you think it could go back to positive territory in Poland?

Thank you very much, Geoffroy, for your question. So you're right. Nonfood is an important element in the reading and the good understanding of this Q3 data. We had a relatively strong nonfood in Q2, which was helped clearly by some weather elements and a number of seasonal campaigns in the market. This is not specific to Carrefour, but a number of seasonal campaigns, which had their impact earlier than they traditionally do.

So typically, that has translated some turnover from Q3 to Q2. And so conversely, nonfood has been relatively weak in Q3. When you do the average of Q2 and Q3, you're very close to the average of what we deliver in a given quarter. So it's mainly balancing from one quarter to the other with its traffic impact. So that's why I think the Q3 performance is -- underlying performance is strong because we clearly benefited less than last year from the traffic building from the nonfood operations.

And so this is why we have flagged in our comments in the press release and in the presentation, the food sales, which trend, which remains quite strong so that you can really have a more precise reading.

Second question relates to Poland. So the market is tough there, so it negatively impacts us. There's -- we're already rolling out in the country our strategy, including some price investments. You may have seen that in local public price surveys. And so this is perceived by customers. This is reflecting in the NPS. Hard to give you an outlook for the Polish market. So I won't make a forecast there, just saying that our relative performance is improving.

Your next question today comes from the line of Sreedhar Mahamkali from UBS.

Maybe just to start with France, Matthieu. I think you referred to France being a rational market. Is it a fair read of that statement that you're perhaps satisfied with underlying operating margin progression in Q3 in terms of the work you've done? I realize it's a trading update, but any help is appreciated there.

Secondly, in terms of Brazil, you've talked to a difficult consumer, high interest rates, leveraged consumer households. But yet your credit portfolio is up 17%. It seems a little surprising given that backdrop. It seems to have even accelerated from the beginning of the year. I recall more like 15 something. What is the strategy here? And are you not concerned about loan losses accelerating?

And third one, just in terms of cash flows, anything we should keep in mind, any transactions you've done that you could alert us to keep in mind in terms of property proceeds, disposals, et cetera, please? Or what you can share would be helpful.

Thank you very much, Sreedhar.

So well, obviously, I won't guide on France, but the market has been rational. I think you've all been following that through a number of public indices and comments. So there's been no specific initiatives aside from the ones that we undertook. As you know, we had price -- waves of price decrease at the beginning of Q3 and at the end of August, right before the back-to-school.

You've seen that since the beginning of the year, our price index slightly improved and we really see more and more positive comments from consumers around our loyalty program, which gives a 10% permanent discount on fruits and vegetables and even 15% if you're a Pass card holder. And so this is -- this impacts very strongly our price image.

So no specific reaction in the market, and we remain competitive and want to keep investing into our competitiveness. Absolutely, no change of policy here. And as you see regularly, we have waves of price decrease that hit the market.

Second point on Brazil. So a very important point, is there a risk on our credit portfolio due to the situation. That's something that the teams have looked at, I must say, have quite well anticipated. And so when I said in my comment that a number of banks have been more stringent in their criteria to grant credit, it's been the case at Carrefour Bank in Brazil. And so there is no bad news to date on the cost of risk, and that's something, as you can imagine, in the current environment that is monitored very closely.

On the net free cash flow, well, no specific transaction to be reported. We outlined to you at the end of July a quite precise profile on how we saw the net free cash flow in H2 to develop, and this is what is happening. So no specific comments to be made there.

[Operator Instructions]

We will now take our next question. And the question comes from François Digard from Kepler Cheuvreux.

Sorry to come back. On Italy, now it is treated as discontinued, but could you elaborate a bit on its recent performance on the dialing trends? And do you expect a similar bottom line contribution from Italy in '25 than in '24?

Again, this perimeter, I mean, we have an agreement, binding agreement. The buyer and ourselves have been in the process of meeting conditions precedent for the closing, which has meant intense dialogue with antitrust authorities notably. So this is really virtually pending closing outside of the perimeter of the group.

What I can say is that there is no new significant effect in terms of price determination and so on that would materially differ from what we did in our H1 accounts. We already booked some elements, notably in the nonrecurring line of our P&L in H1, and so this is the bulk of it, if I were to say we might have adjustments, but I think they would be minor.

Your next question comes from Frederick Wild from Jefferies.

Sorry, back again. I don't think you could give us an update on the progress of the disposals we've seen rumored in the news on Argentina and Poland and how we should be thinking about the development of those?

You, Frederick. Well, no specific comments to make. We're really progressing, we're still progressing in our strategic review. We made it very clear. There's been a few clear lines that have been set by Alexandre Bompard already in February when we launched it, and I think that he confirmed that on the call in July.

First, we consider that France, Spain and Brazil are already core markets for us where we have very strong operations and where we think we're going to create significant value in the future.

Second point is that there is no taboo, meaning that we're really conducting the strategic review, and so it concerns all perimeters, including Poland and Argentina. That being said, the review is underway, and there is no specific comments that I can make. I'm not going to comment on rumors, as you can imagine, and so when a news or a decision arises, as you saw for Italy, you will be informed in due time.

We have one further follow-up question and the question comes from the line of Rob Joyce from BNP Paribas.

Just quickly, just on Brazil, just to understand, did you say that Brazil kind of the 1.1 run rate we saw in the quarter is an appropriate exit rate to think of going into the fourth quarter there?

And just on Argentina, in terms of the first half, I think the profitability was kind of down almost half in the first half. Is that the sort of given the sales trajectory, we should be thinking similar for the second half? Is there anything else there we need to be aware of?

So for Brazil, yes, I said that the trend is fairly similar through the month of Q3. So no significant difference in September than the rest of the quarter, obviously, can depend on a specific commercial operation, but I think the trend in the market is fairly stable through the quarter.

Argentina, well, very volatile situation, as you know. So I won't make any forecast for the full year. As you know, there are important elections in the country in this weekend, this coming weekend. And we know that the consumers' confidence is significantly linked to the political situation in the country. So I won't make any specific outlook for Argentina.

There are currently no further questions. I will hand back to Matthieu for closing remarks.

Well, let me thank you very much for attending the call and for your questions. Happy to meet you again on February 17, 2026, for our full year results. Many thanks. Have a nice evening. .

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.