Casino Q3 2015 sales (first take): 1/ indisputably strong in France; 2/ concerns in Thaïland

Casino has just released Q3 15 sales  slightly above expectations. As usual, it is obviously possible to regard a glass as either half full (France) or half empty (International). Nevertheless, the majority of listed subsidiaries had already released their own statement. Hence, theoreticaly, today’s focus should be on France which turned out to be strong (+2.4% LFL excl. fuel and cal. vs+1.2%e). Beyond today’s figures, we have to admit we sometimes struggle to see the push that could give a decisive impetus to the short term equity story (due to Asia’s new-found weight in Casino’s SOTP (~40%), it is very important that latent Asian growth worries – LFL worked out at -4.7% vs -3.5% e – do not weigh too heavily on investor sentiment). Nevertheless, short-term hurdles do not wipe out a longer term conviction and we see an opportunity for investors whose investment horizon is over the long term.

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