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By Dominique Vidalon
PARIS (Reuters) -Carrefour, Europe's largest food retailer, on Thursday reported higher first quarter sales that reflected solid sales in Brazil and an improving performance in its core French market where the company has cut prices to lure cash-strapped shoppers.
Carrefour kept its 2025 targets for slightly higher profits and cash intact, noting that the local nature of its business meant its direct exposure to recent international tensions was "limited".
Sales reached 22.674 billion euros ($25.78 billion) in the first quarter, marking like-for-like growth of 2.9%.
For 2025, Carrefour reiterated it expected a slightly higher level of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), of recurring operating income (ROI) and of net free cash flow.
In the French market, sales declined 1.7% like-for-like in the quarter but showed a sequential improvement from a 2.1% decline in the fourth quarter 2024.
This reflected the positive impact of price cuts amid a consumer environment that finance chief Matthieu Malige said remained "sluggish".
Carrefour intends to fund its price cuts with a cost savings plan of 1.2 billion euros for 2025, which it said was on track.
In France, Carrefour's hypermarket sales were down 3.6% in the first quarter of 2025 compared with a 3.8% decline in the fourth quarter of 2024.
In Brazil, the group's second-largest market, sales rose 5.4% in the quarter, helped by the good performance at the Atacadao cash-and-carry stores.
Carrefour, which has said it would take private its Brazilian unit Atacadao SA, also known as Carrefour Brasil, has launched a review of its asset portfolio.
Malige said the review was "progressing well", but did not provide further details.
($1 = 0.8796 euros)
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by GV De Clercq and Benoit Van Overstraeten)