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Fnac, France's largest cultural product chain, has reported only a slight drop in turnover for the first half of this year, despite shrinking demand for consumer goods in all the markets where the group operates.
Turnover declined by 1.8%, or 1.1% on a like-for-like basis, to €1.64bn from €1.67bn in the same period of 2013. However that represented a fall of 5.2% from the same period in 2012 while the net loss widened by 19.4% from €30.6m to €37m.
On a brighter note, bricks and mortar sales in France rose by 0.8% in the second quarter of this year, the first increase for several years, and the group continues to gain market share, chairman and c.e.o. Alexandre Bompard said in a statement. This is thanks largely to new product areas such as mobile telephony, new shop formats, and internet-instore linked sales such as click & collect.
Elsewhere, sales dropped in all countries except for Portugal. The other countries are Belgium, Brazil - where sales suffered from the World Cup - Spain and Switzerland, which together with Portugal accounts for 108 stores and franchisees out of the group’s total of 177.
The first-half results "confirmed the gradual improvement in the group’s sales performance that begin at the end of the 2013" the statement said. "Market conditions should remain unchanged for the rest of the year," while the plan to cut costs by €80m in 2013 and 2014 is on track, it added.