The management of Distribution Casino France unveiled, this Monday, June 12, 2023, its plans to sell stores to staff representatives, during a central committee organized at the company’s headquarters, in Saint-Étienne. In total, in France, 119 stores should be sold to Groupement Intermarché, the only candidate in the running for the moment, during the first two waves: 57 before the end of the year and 62 within three years.
In Brittany, nine stores are officially promised for sale. Two supermarkets should change hands before the end of the year: Plouaret (Côtes d’Armor) and La Gacilly (Morbihan). The seven to follow, within three years, would be the hypermarket in Lorient, the supermarkets in Trégunc, Lesneven and Plonéour-Lanvern, in Finistère, Sarzeau, Quiberon and Belle-Ile (Bric’Home in Le Palais), in Morbihan.
The largest establishments in the region, Brest, Lanester and Quimper, do not appear on these first lists, which turn out to be less extensive than expected by union sources. “Which does not mean that they will not be sold in a year or during a third wave”, specifies an observer of the file. Indeed, around sixty additional hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores could be sold.
“It’s a social disaster”
“It’s a social disaster: around 4,000 employees in France will leave the company with this disposal plan”, lamented, at the end of the presentation, Magalie Charnacé, Unsa union representative and employee at the Casino de Brest hypermarket.
Even “concern for employment”, expressed a few minutes later, by Jean-Luc Farsal, CFDT delegate of the Casino Group. “And we are not sure that this is enough economically speaking to lower the debt by 6.5 billion euros, as long as there is not a buyer worthy of the name”, he continues.
As for the management, it indicates that it does not comment “as long as the negotiations remain open (this is particularly the case in the supply register, editor’s note) and the time that the information is consolidated and that it circulates internally.”. This should be done by June 28, the date of a Group committee.