2023-10-27 04:02:10
The Casino subsidiary is still seeing its sales collapse. Fnac Darty, which had considered buying the e-commerce specialist, closed the file despite the presence of Daniel Kretinsky in both companies.
Fnac Darty no longer wants CDiscount. According to several sources, the idea of a marriage between the two brands is now buried. “CDiscount is suffering enormously and Fnac Darty no longer has any interest in marrying them,” explains a source close to the brand.
The Casino subsidiary published poor results for the third quarter on Thursday. Its turnover fell by 25%, the same trend as since the start of the year. Direct sales even plummeted by 35%, with CDiscount no longer able to compete with Amazon.
“They no longer have stocks, no more sales and it no longer makes industrial sense to bring us together,” says this source.
The marriage between the two brands is a sea serpent. Two years ago, Fnac Darty offered 500 million euros to buy CDiscount from Casino which was studying its IPO. The group’s CEO, Jean-Charles Naouri, refused, expecting double the amount. Last April, the general director of Fnac Darty, Enrique Martinez, declared on BFM Business that such an operation “was not in the cards”.
Kretinsky thinks
However, a marriage was on everyone’s mind before the summer when Daniel Kretinsky, the largest shareholder of Fnac Darty (25%), had just taken control of Casino. People around the Czech businessman are more cautious. “He has not yet seriously looked into the subject,” evades one of his close friends. “He will wait to take control of it next March,” adds an industrialist who knows him well. When contacted, the management of its fund, Vesa Equity, did not wish to comment. Is this a sign of a disagreement between the management of Fnac Darty and its shareholder?
Today, the brand is more concerned regarding the future of its other major shareholder: the German Ceconomy. Takeover, merger, all the options have been imagined in recent years but the German group has always refused a marriage with the French brand. Today, Fnac Darty and Daniel Kretinsky want to buy the 24% of Ceconomy so that the businessman takes control of the French group. An exit from the stock market would then be considered as the price hits its historic low, excluding Covid. It prices at 20 euros while Fnac was listed on the stock market ten years ago, at 22 euros.
Matthieu Pechberty Journalist BFM Business
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