CO Casino Guichard Perrachon

By Alexa Liautaud 

PARIS-- Groupe Casino's profit skyrocketed in the first half of the year as the French retailer booked a massive capital gain from the sale of supermarket chains in Asia.

The company, which operates supermarkets in France and abroad, reported that net profit jumped more than 30-fold to EUR2.58 billion ($2.86 billion) in the first six months of 2016, up from EUR79 million in the same period last year.

Earnings before interest, tax, amortization, and depreciation in the first half was EUR670 million, below the estimate of Deutsche Bank analyst Maxime Mallet, who expected an Ebitda of EUR724 million.

Casino sold its supermarket chain Big C Vietnam and a stake in its Thai chain TCC in a bid to reduce its debt.

The company said its business in France has improved as its Geant, Casino and other retail chains gained market share in its domestic market. Casino booked an EUR85 million trading profit in the first half of this year compared with a EUR53 million loss in the same period last year.

Elsewhere, the company's profits in the first half fell in Latin America, dragged down by the weak economic growth in Brazil.

Two weeks ago, Casino reported a 7% drop in second-quarter revenue to EUR9.97 billion euros, citing weak currencies in Latin America.

Write to Alexa Liautaud at alexa.liautaud@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 29, 2016 03:14 ET (07:14 GMT)

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