Press

The first retailer to obtain France’s Workplace Equality Label in 2013 and a holder of the Diversity Label since 2009, the Casino Group is actively committed to preventing all forms of discrimination. The Group has implemented a diversity policy that aims to encourage the hiring of employees from a wide variety of backgrounds and promote equal opportunity and gender equality.

According to the 2014 equal opportunity survey (Baromètre de l’Égalité des Chances 2014) published in France on 8 October by TNS Sofres-Medef, “Over 20% of respondents say they believe that appearance is the second leading factor in discrimination.” To encourage best practices and combat stereotypes based on physical appearance, the Casino Group has published a guide for managers to raise their awareness of these issues and help them to handle daily management situations in a non-discriminatory manner.

Illustrated by French artist Antoine Chéreau, the guide explains the difference between the concepts of “stereotype” and “prejudice” and defines and denounces stereotypes based on height, weight, visible disabilities and other physical characteristics. It explains the behaviours that the Group expects of its managers, raising the key point that all employees, whether male or female, should be considered solely based on their abilities, regardless of their differences and life experiences. The Casino Group has distributed the guide to all managers and set up awareness-raising training sessions for their benefit.

“Committed for the past two decades to an assertive policy of promoting diversity and combatting all forms of discrimination,” said the Casino Group’s Human Resources Director Yves Desjacques, “we are pursuing our anti-discrimination initiatives with determination in order to ensure that everyone can be rewarded on the basis of merit alone.”

“The guide expresses our determination to deconstruct appearance-based stereotypes and prejudices in order to eliminate discriminatory practices both in hiring and in the career development process,” said Mansour Zoberi, Director of Diversity and Solidarity at the Casino Group. “It explains the behaviours that the Group expects of its managers, with the aim of helping them to handle daily management situations.”

October 31, 2014 — Cnova N.V. (“Cnova”), one of the largest global eCommerce companies, announced today the launch of its initial public offering of 26,800,000 ordinary shares. The initial public offering price is expected to be between $12.50 and $14.00 per share, which would result in a total offering size between $335,000,000 and $375,200,000. All of the shares are being offered by Cnova. In addition, Cnova has granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to 4,020,000 additional ordinary shares to cover over-allotments, if any.

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Cdiscount, France’s leading e-Commerce, in cooperation with Pickup and Chronopost, is launching the new automatic “Pickup Station” service in SNCF train stations, a solution guaranteeing product availability within 24 hours of purchase. For the launch, 100 automatic pickup stations will be set up in SNCF train stations located in the Paris region, and more than one thousand will eventually be installed across the country.

With this new delivery method, Cdiscount is providing its customers with a new, quick (under 24-hour) delivery solution that is easy to access and use. Ten seconds is all it takes to collect a purchase. This service enhances Cdiscount’s existing network of 17,500 pick-up locations in France.

The comptoirsante.com website is a benchmark e-tailer in the health and beauty segment with an offering of over 500 brands and more than 11,000 products. Chosen by the most prestigious players in the industry to sell their wares online, the website features products from Pierre Fabre (Avène, René Furterer, Klorane), l’Oréal Cosmétique active (Vichy, La Roche Posay, Roger Gallet), Nuxe and Caudalie.

Comptoirsante.com is recognised for providing excellent value for money, and negotiates with suppliers to provide exclusive offers in every category to meet all of its customers’ needs. Nearly 400 promotions are active at any one time on the site, which also features more than 100 preselected holiday gift packages.

With the launch of its online marketplace, comptoiresante.com is extending its product offering into a variety of speciality categories, ranging from aromatherapy and alternative medicine to infant care and medical supplies. The site is aiming to make 40,000 products available to shoppers by the end of the year, thus positioning itself as a leading player in the online health and beauty products market.

Following the launch of new Cdiscount websites in Thailand, Vietnam, Colombia, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Belgium and Senegal, Cnova N.V., one of the largest global e-Commerce companies and part of Groupe Casino, continues its internationalization with the opening of cdiscount.com.br in Brazil.

France’s leading e-Commerce company, Cdiscount has won over French customers with its innovative, wide-ranging product assortment and the lowest prices in the market and is excited to bring its value proposition to Brazilian consumers.

Cdiscount.com.br offers customers unique opportunities to purchase quality items at significant savings and with the convenience of payment in up to 10 installments at no charge and delivery throughout the country.  The site already boasts an assortment of more than 50 thousand items, including through hundreds of partner stores on its Marketplace across categories such as electronics, computers, appliances and telephony, among others.

Cdiscount.com.br, which is being operated by the existing teams of Cnova Brasil, complements the online shopping experience offered today by Cnova Brasil through extra.com.br, pontofrio.com and casasbahia.com.br.and leverages Cnova Brasil’s well-established know-how and operating infrastructure in the Brazilian e-Commerce market.

The launch of Cdiscount in Brazil also highlights the synergies being created between the French and Brazilian e-Commerce operations of Cnova.

France’s leading e-tailer has made a new express pick-up option available to its customers for purchases weighing over 30 kg available within 24-48 hours of purchase.

Cdiscount ships a total of 11 million small packages every year, distributing two-thirds of them through its network of 17,500 pick-up locations. For purchases exceeding 30 kg, such as sofas and other furniture, large electrical appliances, screens and stereo equipment, the website has developed a network of 550 pick-up locations in France, including 400 Casino Group stores and 150 supply chain units. This dense coverage ensures that customers can find a pick-up location within an average of 10 km of their home to collect products within 4-6 days of purchase. This explains why 60% of Cdiscount customers prefer the pick-up option for 30 kg-plus
packages.

To further enhance its large-package delivery service and meet customer expectations, Cdiscount is opening the first express pick-up location in Auxerre (Burgundy), which will guarantee product availability within two days of purchase. To cover France’s largest cities, Cdiscount will also be opening 100 express pick-up locations for 30kg-plus packages. These collection points will serve roughly 80% of customers, most of whom are individuals with an urgent need to replace an electrical appliance or large item of household equipment.

The products will be delivered daily from two warehouses, one in Andrézieux in the Loire Valley, and the other at the new site in Saint-Mard, a northeast suburb of Paris. The new 50,000-sq.m site, operated by Casino Group
service provider ID Logistics, will give Cdiscount the additional means it requires to reduce time to delivery.

The supply chain will be organised around two geographical centres from now on, with Saint-Mard serving the north of France and Andrézieux the south. The north/south logistical system for delivering packages over 30 kg, with both warehouses carrying the same items in inventory, will ensure one-day delivery of 30 kg-plus purchases to express pick-up locations in the Paris and Lyon regions.

Total Group sales of €12 billion, up by +1.6% overall and by +2.8% on an organic basis.

• In France,
  • At Géant, FMCG volumes continued to grow (+1.4%) on an already increasing basis in 2013. Over two years, FMCG volumes’ growth is now positive at +2.3%. In the last four weeks, food volumes were up by +3.6%
  • Positive trends in September and early October across all banners after a weak activity during summer
• Internationally, organic sales growth of +6.1%, driven by good food sales in Brazil which grew by +6.7% on an organic basis, and good dynamic of expansion in all geographies.

Cnova (E-commerce) GMV of €1,098.8 million, featuring very strong growth of +30.6%.

Intermarché, a chain of independent business managers, and Casino group have decided to cooperate in purchasing starting with negotiations for 2015.

This peer-to-peer partnership applies to France only. It aims to optimize the two partners’ purchases and, at national level, to improve services offered to suppliers, on leading brand goods produced by multinational groups, in both food and non-food.

The partnership will not apply to private label products, nor to traditional fresh farming or fishing produce, or to national brand products supplied by SMEs or mid-sized companies.

Intermarché and Casino group will continue to manage and develop their marketing strategies and outlets separately, thereby keeping their respective stores totally separate.

Thanks to this partnership, Intermarché and Casino group customers will continue to benefit from the competitive animation between the two groups’ stores. This partnership will help to sustain the diversity of retail groups operating in the French market.

Building on its long tradition of social innovation, Casino has signed a sixth agreement on the employment of disabled persons for the 2014-2016 period with three representative labour unions (SNTA FO, CFDT and CFE-CGC). At present, disabled employees account for 11.93% of the Group’s workforce.

The agreement adds to the number of specific collective agreements on diversity of backgrounds, employment of seniors and gender equality signed within the framework of the Group’s diversity policy implemented in 1995.It reaffirms the signatories’ commitment to promoting equal opportunities for the disabled in recruitment and career development.

During the period covered by the previous three-year agreement, Casino exceeded its objectives, notably by lifting the percentage of disabled employees in the workforce to 11.93%.

The new agreement extends Casino’s longstanding commitment to hiring the disabled, with an objective of recruiting 100 disabled applicants, at least 10% of whom under the age of 30. To facilitate the integration of disabled persons, the agreement calls for greater development of work-study contracts and a programme to take on 160 interns. A sponsorship system is being deployed to support new hires and disabled employees transitioning towards new professions.

To help retain disabled employees, an e-learning module will be made available to smooth the process of returning to work. A pilot test will be carried out in the Loire department of east-central France in partnership with a network of businesses to promote gateways towards compatible professions.

Professional and digital accessibility initiatives will be continued with the appointment of experts who will determine the level of digital accessibility needed for different tools.

New awareness campaigns will be carried out in 2015 as part of the 20th anniversary of Casino’s disability policy to facilitate communication with deaf and hearing-impaired colleagues and customers. In particular, employees will have access to Audicap, a training module on hearing disabilities. Under the previous agreement, more than 1,200 managers and human resources team members learned more about integrating disabled persons thanks to a dedicated training CD, video testimonials by disabled employees, posters, brochures, intranet content and other information campaigns.

The policy initiated under the previous agreement to provide support for employee/caregivers has been enhanced. In particular, the agreement calls for the allocation of the apprenticeship tax to schools attended by the disabled children of employees and for the distribution of CESU universal service employment vouchers.

Casino’s commitment to being an equal opportunity employer has been recognised by France’s Diversity Label, awarded in 2009 and renewed in May 2012, as well as by the French Workplace Equality Label, awarded in October 2013.