Carrefour to stay in Malaysia, Singapore

The world's second-biggest retailer behind US colossus Wal-Mart, Carrefour had said this week it was offloading 42 stores in Thailand and was also looking to sell its 23 Malaysian and two Singaporean outlets.

But the firm decided to retain its presence in Malaysia and Singapore following a "strategic review", Carrefour chief executive Lars Olofsson said in a statement issued in Malaysia.

"We have decided not to sell our operations in Malaysia and Singapore because their market position and their growth prospect are consistent with our strategy," Olofsson said.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported Olofsson as saying the planned auction did not attract high enough bids, but the chief executive played down those claims in his statement.

"We received good offers but we came to the conclusion that we can create more value by ourselves," he said, adding that the company can capitalise on its significant market share in the Malaysia's retail market.

Carrefour is the third-largest retailer in Malaysia and Olofsson pledged to invest "the necessary means" to improve its position in the market.

The French company on Monday said it was selling its Thai business to rival Big C, part of the French Casino group, for 868 million euros ($1.19 billion).

Reports emerged in July that Carrefour was planning to sell its businesses in all three Southeast Asian countries in an apparent bid to consolidate and shift resources to the booming Indian market.

However, the company denied the reported realignment in August.

According to Carrefour, Asia accounted for 7.6 per cent of its total net sales of 85.96 billion euros in 2009, compared to 13.7 per cent for Latin America and 35.7 per cent for Europe excluding France.

Overall, Carrefour's sales in the third quarter were up by 6.7 per cent to 25.61 billion euros ($36 billion). The growth was higher than a 6.1-per cent increase forecast by analysts.

>> Carrefour says it sells Thailand outlets to Casino