Carrefour tips 35% drop in French operating profit

Carrefour, the world's second-biggest retailer, said on Friday it expected a 35 percent drop in half-year operating profit for its French operations, but held to annual revenue and profit targets. "The Group expects a drop of 35 percent in current operating profit in France in the first half," a spokesman said after the company said the previous day it expected it would fail to meet targets. Upon announcing the appointment of Noel Prioux to head up its French operations on Thursday, the company said he had been charged with implementing a "recovery plan" to improve the performance of Carrefour France, whose first-half results were below expectations. However the Carrefour spokesman told AFP: "For the year, we are maintaining our goal of growth in sales and operating profit." Carrefour shares were the biggest loser on the Paris CAC 40 on Friday morning, down 3.17 percent in late morning trading while the index was up 0.78 percent. Over the week it has given up some nine percent, having also been hit by UBS switching its recommendation to "sell" shares in the French retailing giant from "neutral". For 2010, the company reported an operating profit of 2.97 billion euros on sales of 101 billion euros including value added tax.