“Renewal 2028”: this is the name of Casino’s strategic plan, on which it is counting to “become the best local brand”. Quite a program while the distributor has been mired in financial difficulties for many months. This plan will be presented this Thursday by the new general director of the group, Philippe Palazzi. Management has already delivered the main points upstream.
The group plans a “return to balance in 2026”, heard “before financial expenses and dividends”. For this, 1.2 billion euros will be invested “in the next four years”. A large part – 900 million euros – will come from the consortium which took over the group this year – the billionaires Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière and Daniel Kretinsky backed by the Attestor investment fund.
This amount will allow“reach a business volume of around 15 billion euros in 2028”, it is specified. That is to say an increase of around 1.9 billion euros compared to 2023. The group is more generally aiming for “profitable and responsible growth”.
In full transformation, Casino still in difficulty
Fewer stores and more franchises
To achieve this, Casino intends “rationalize the store network”. An approach already launched: in the third quarter, 141 stores judged “unprofitable” were closed. That’s a total of 449 stores closed since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, the group wants to “switch certain integrated sites to franchise” et “bring together franchisees from the competition”. Casino has already operated this segment: between July and September, 50 stores were opened under franchise or lease management. In the distributor’s new scope, 83% of stores are already franchised, according to Philippe Palazzi. The group now boasts 7,700 points of sale, including around 250 internationally.
Become one “champion of proximity”
Since its restructuring, Casino has sold most of its large format stores to refocus on its smaller store brands. Casinos again but also Monoprix and Franprix, more urban, and Vival and Spar, more rural. The group hears “reinvent proximity by focusing on three key markets”we can read in its press release.
Casino downsizes (further) and sells 66 stores, after having already sold more than 200
On everyday shopping, the distributor wants “propose a quality offer that meets local expectations, work on the price image with ranges adapted to different expectations, develop the assortment of own brands and product innovations”. Second part, that of take-out catering, wherever he wants “to offer an offer adapted to all times of consumption (breakfast, lunch, snacking, etc.) and increase our market share compared to fast food or takeaway players”. Finally, it wishes to offer consumers more “daily living services”without further details.
Social plan to be specified
There remains one subject on which Philippe Palazzi’s presentation will perhaps not provide an answer: the scale of future job cuts. For now, Casino has 25,000 employees in France, compared to 50,000 at the end of 2022 – out of a total of 200,000 worldwide. A figure which could still be reduced by more than 10% according to the unions. A social plan is currently being discussed with management and some 3,000 jobs are threatened, according to them.
Social plan at Casino: “more than 3,000” positions eliminated, according to the unions
The distributor has never confirmed or denied this figure. He only recently clarified that “this number should be at the high end of the range initially announced, but (that) the number of layoffs will be significantly lower than the number of positions eliminated”. In detail, around 400 positions will be affected by voluntary departures and 1,200 are vacant, and therefore open to internal reclassification. On Wednesday, staff representatives withdrew their appeal complaint against the distributor’s accelerated backup plan.
(With AFP)
