Groupe Casino
| Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA
|
|
|---|---|
 |
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| legal form | Société Anonyme |
| ISIN | FR0000125585 |
| founding | 1898 |
| Seat |
Saint-Etienne , France
|
| management | Jean-Charles Naouri (Chairman and CEO) |
| Number of employees | 220,000 |
| sales | 36.6 billion euros (2018) |
| Branch | retail trade |
| Website | groupe-casino.fr |
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Casino Guichard-Perrachon (also known as Casino Guichard or Groupe Casino ) is a French listed retail company based in Saint-Étienne . The company was founded in 1898 by Geoffroy Guichard and had sales of 36.6 billion euros in the 2018 financial year.
Activities and ownership
Casino Guichard operates over 12,200 retail outlets worldwide, including over 9,200 in France. Other stores are located in Belgium, Africa and, to a large extent, in South America. The retail chain Géant Casino is a subsidiary of Casino Guichard. Other brands are Monoprix , Franprix , Leader Price , Vival and Cdiscount . The largest retailer in Brazil, GPA , and Grupo Éxito in Colombia are other Groupe Casino companies; the French e-commerce activities (Cdiscount) are carried out via the listed subsidiary Cnova . The company is part of the French " CAC Mid 60 " index. With 51.3%, the absolute majority of the company shares is held by the Rallye Group .
history
Start of business activity (1867–1897)
The founder Geoffroy Guichard was born in Feurs in 1867 as the eldest of four siblings. His parents ran a retail store in Saint-Étienne, where Geoffroy often helped out. After completing a commercial apprenticeship and marrying Antonia Perrachon, he took over a business in the former Casino Lyrique from his brother-in-law Paul Perrachon , which he became sole owner in 1892. The casino there had to be closed in 1858 due to immorality, so that the premises could be used for a shop from 1860 onwards. After the takeover by Guichard, he and his wife moved into an apartment above the shop.
Foundation and early expansion (1898–1944)
In April 1898, Guichard opened his second shop in the municipality of Veauche . This year the company Guichard-Perrachon & Cie is officially founded with a share capital of one million francs and 77 shareholders. A strong expansion policy enabled the hundredth branch to be opened in 1904. The strong growth after the turn of the century and the associated logistical challenges were the trigger for the construction of four regional warehouses in Clermont-Ferrand , Roanne , Moulins and Grenoble by 1910 in order to be able to supply all branches with goods. This expansion of business activity was abruptly interrupted with the beginning of the war in 1914, which heralded a time of scarcity. Due to the lack of horses and motor vehicles, the supply of the individual branches became more and more problematic, while at the same time an increasing number of employees were called up for military service. The rush to the sales outlets after the mobilization was met with the instruction not to increase prices and to distribute the products to as many customers as possible.
After the end of the war, a large number of own food products were produced in their own factories from 1920, which were sold under the own brand Produits Casino . These included, for example, bread, of which seven tons were produced daily in Saint-Étienne, chocolate, mustard and liqueurs. Our own laboratories ensured uniform quality standards for the goods on offer. In 1923, Geoffroy Guichard became director of the L'Épargne de Toulouse retail chain with around 300 stores, which he took over in 1925. At the Annual General Meeting of Groupe Casino in October 1929 - Casino already had a workforce of 2,000 at that time - company founder Guichard announced his withdrawal from the company and placed entrepreneurial responsibility in the hands of his children.
Expansion in post-war France (1945–1991)
After several executives traveled to the United States, the self-service concept was first implemented in many markets in 1948 . It was not until the 1960s that self-service enabled the establishment of larger supermarkets . The first Supermarché Casino with over 700 m² sales area was opened in Grenoble in May 1960. In 1961, Casino Guichard was the first and only French retailer to put an expiration date on its own products . The indication of best-before dates on foods was not yet regulated at that time and was only made mandatory by official ordinances in the 1980s. Also in the 1960s, the first Cafétéria Casino was opened. This was a chain of self-service restaurants, the first branch of which was opened in 1967 in Saint-Étienne. In March 1970, the first hypermarket named Géant Casino was opened in Marseille soon after . At that time, the store was the largest hypermarket in France with a floor area of 16,000 m² and was just about to open further stores. In the second half of the 20th century, TV advertising also began to boom. The Groupe Casino broadcast commercials with the comedian duo Roger Pierre and Jean-Marc Thibault as part of its increasing reach on television.
Takeover bids and own company acquisitions (1992 – today)
In 1992 the Rallye Group took over a 29% stake in Casino Guichard. Rallye is also the owner of the sporting goods retailer Groupe Go Sport . Four years later, a cooperation agreement was signed between Casino and Monoprix, a former subsidiary of Galeries Lafayette , which provided for cooperation in the field of purchasing and logistics. The takeover of the retail chain Prisunic by Monoprix in 1997 was supported by the Groupe Casino, which subsequently came into possession of 21.6% of the shares in Monoprix. In the same year Casino Guichard took over a total of almost 650 locations of the Franprix and Leader Price brands. A hostile takeover offer on the Groupe Casino by the retailer Promodès in 1997 could only be fended off by a counter offer from the founding family, the management team and Jean-Charles Naouris, the majority owner of the Groupe Rallye.
The Groupe Rallye then became the majority shareholder in Groupe Casino. The Vival brand, which was taken over in 1998, can still be found in more rural areas with 1700 stores. With a 25% stake in the Colombian Grupo Éxito , the company entered the South American market in 1999 . Groupe Casino has also been the majority shareholder in Grupo Éxito since 2007.
Due to its high debt, the Rallye Group had to be placed under six-month bankruptcy protection on May 23, 2019 .
Trivia
The football club AS Saint-Étienne , founded in 1919 by employees of Casino Guichards, plays a major role in the sporting history of the city of Saint-Étienne . The team's home games are played at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard . With ten championship titles won, the club is to this day (as of 2019) France's record champions .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Casino Guichard-Perrachon: Board of Directors accessed November 26, 2018
- ↑ a b Casino Guichard-Perrachon: Key figures accessed on August 28, 2019
- ↑ Euronext: Market Information accessed on November 26, 2018
- ↑ Casino Guichard-Perrachon: Casino share accessed on November 26, 2018
- ↑ Casino Guichard-Perrachon: Notre histoire accessed on December 6, 2018
- ↑ boerse.ard.de: Record price jump at Casino, accessed on May 24, 2019
- ↑ Reuters: UPDATE 4-Casino shares boosted as boss Naouri buys time for retail empire accessed on May 24, 2019