Carrefour to close
Singapore outlets by year-end
SINGAPORE: Hypermarket chain Carrefour has announced that it plans
to close both its local outlets -- at Suntec City Mall and Plaza
Singapura -- by the end of this year.
In a press release dated Tuesday morning, the company said:
"Carrefour Singapore announces the decision to close its Suntec and
Plaza Singapura stores before end of 2012, since expansion and
growth perspectives do not allow reaching a leadership position in
the medium and long term."
The French company, which opened its first store in Singapore in
1997, had previously said in 2010 that it would leave Malaysian,
Singaporean and Thai markets.
In November 2010, it sold its operations in Thailand -- where it
had 42 stores including 34 hypermarkets -- to Thai chain Big C, for
an enterprise value of 868 million euros (S$1.36
billion).
But in the same month, it put off plans of selling its stores in
Singapore and Malaysia, saying it was confident of creating more
value single-handedly in Malaysia and Singapore in the medium and
long term, rather than by disposing of those
properties.
Then-chief executive of the Carrefour group, Lars Olofsson, said at
that point that the two countries would become more significant
contributors to the company's overall business.
However, other reports claimed that Carrefour had cancelled plans
to sell its Malaysian and Singaporean assets after the designed
sale did not attract expected bids.
In 2009, Asia accounted for 7.9 per cent of Carrefour's sales of
85.9 billion euros. Carrefour's two outlets in Singapore
contributed 85 million euros in revenue that year, according to its
annual report.
Separately, Dairy Farm Singapore says it has signed a lease to open
a new Giant hypermarket chain at Suntec City. It is also exploring
the possibility of taking over the space at Plaza Singapura after
Carrefour ends its lease.