Press

The Casino Group announces it has signed an exclusive agreement in the Philippines with the retailer Rustan’s for the distribution of Casino brand products in the country. The full range of Casino products (“Casino Délices”, “Casino Bio”, “Casino Famili” …) is concerned and will be available in the 32 Rustan’s and Shopwise stores of the Philippine distributor.

Already present through its subsidiaries Big C in Thailand and Vietnam, the Casino Group extends through this partnership its presence in Asia by using the power of its own brand.

The Casino Group is one of the world’s leading food retailers. Beyond its 9,500 stores in France (Géant Casino, Casino supermarket, Franprix, Leader Price, Monoprix, Petit Casino, Spar, and Cdiscount Vival), the Group has 2,300 stores, mainly in Latin America (Brazil and Colombia) and Asia-South East (Thailand and Vietnam), which represent 45% of its activity. In 2011, the Casino Group achieved a consolidated turnover of 34.4 billion euros. It employs 230,000 people around the world.

Rustan’s is the 3rd largest retailer in the Philippines. Founded in 1998, Rustan’s now has 32 stores with 10 hypermarkets (Shopwise), 13 supermarkets (Rustan’s) and 9 convenience stores (Shopwise Express). The Group generates an annual turnover of $ 400 million and employs over 3,000 employees.

Press Contact: Frédéric Croccel – fcroccel@groupe-casino.fr – (+33)1 53 65 24 39

In 2000 and 2003, Galeries Lafayette ceded joint-control of Monoprix to Casino (50%). Casino has the right to acquire from January 1, 2012, the majority stake and to designate, from March 31, 2012 the chairman and chief executive for periods of three years alternating with Galeries Lafayettes.

Galeries Lafayette, which holds an option to sell, has implemented on December 7, 2011 the process of evaluating its stake, which then opens a window to exercise its option, and has informed Casino of its intention to terminate the partnership.

The banks responsible for carrying out this evaluation have not reached an agreement and thus, a third expert, according to the protocol, must conduct it.

The bank that was approached for this task indicated that it refused to intervene if the two parties did not agree beforehand on key financial projections as a basis for evaluation. However, this agreement has not been reached.

Galeries Lafayette, insisting that their financial assumptions should be the ones retained by Casino, refused to designate another expert and is taking Casino to the Paris Commercial Court.

Casino believes that this action has the sole purpose of adding further pressure on them to accept the price that was set by Galeries Lafayette. Soon after valuing its stake at €1.95bn as part of the evaluation process, Galeries Lafayette addressed Casino with an offer to sell at €1.35bn. Casino rejected this offer, having received a valuation of Galeries Lafayette’s stake at €700 million from the bank that is advising it.

It is in this context, that although the chairmanship of the Board of Directors of Monoprix must be held by Casino after March 31 2012, Galeries Lafayette chose to violate its contractual commitment during a board meeting on February 22, 2012, by making the directors it had appointed to vote to extend the position of Philippe Houzé as the President and CEO.

Casino will bring an action before the appropriate court to enforce Galeries Lafayette to respect its commitments. Casino made an essential contribution to the development of Monoprix and cannot accept the company being taken hostage by Galeries Lafayette.
Casino reiterates its confidence in all the company’s management and employees.

Press Contacts

Analysts and Investors Contacts

Régine GAGGIOLI
rgaggioli@groupe-casino.fr
+33 1 53 65 64 17

or

IR_Casino@groupe-casino.fr
+33 1 53 65 64 18

The Board of Directors of Mercialys, a 50.1% subsidiary of Casino group, has adopted today a new step of its development strategy.

Through its new vision of « Foncière Commerçante », Mercialys aims at extending its range of services and hence reinforcing the attractiveness of its shopping malls, a strategy supported by an acceleration of the “Alcudia” program (renovation and extension of the existing sites), and a more than doubled asset rotation plan, which should reach €500m by the end of 2012.

In the context of this new step of its REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) life, Mercialys plans to:

–  submit to the approvals of its shareholders two consecutive distributions totaling c.€1.25Bn in 2012 (€1.15Bn through a contribution premium distribution). It is planned to distribute €1Bn in the first semester. A second distribution, of up to €250m, should take place during the second semester, following a second general meeting, subject to the completion of the disposal program, requiring the approval of its new Board of Directors.

– amend as a consequence its financial structure through the issuance of €1Bn of debt, enabling the company to target a conservative and sustainable Loan-to-Value below 40%.

The full completion of these distributions would enable Casino to fully recover its historical investments in the company.

Casino will reduce its stake to reach a level between 30% to 40% of the share capital of Mercialys (compared with a majority stake today), and remain a key partner of Mercialys. The composition of Mercialys’ Board of Directors will be modified accordingly.

The two companies intend to renew their partnership and Mercialys will thus continue to contribute to the development of the value-creating retail & real-estate dual model of Casino.

Casino pursues the implementation of its value-creating dual model and will renew its partnership with Mercialys

Casino group pursues and strengthens its dual model of active and coordinated management of its retail & real estate activities, which remains a key pillar of the group’s strategy in France and abroad.

The key principle of the partnership, according to which Casino develops and manages a pipeline of projects that Mercialys purchases to feed its growth, should be maintained with the same financial conditions. Its practical dispositions will be adapted in a new agreement extended until end 2015 and submitted to the approval of the Board of Directors of Casino and of Mercialys in its new composition.

Mercialys will remain a key partner for Casino’s projects. Its new differentiating vision of « Foncière Commerçante » will enable the continuation and acceleration of value creation at the historical retail sites of Casino, including the area optimisation between hypermarkets and shopping malls, strengthening the offer surrounding the Géant stores.

For example, it is planned that Mercialys could support, through the Alcudia program, the development of most of the 37 extension projects planned by Casino over the next three years (2012-2014), particularly in some of the group’s flagship centres.

Casino significantly strengthens its financial flexibility

As a result of the transaction, including the reduction of the group’s stake in Mercialys, Casino should receive a gross cash inflow of €800-900m, significantly strengthening its financial flexibility with a neutral impact of the whole transaction on its underlying net profit 20121. As of today it has not been planned that this operation should lead the Group to modify its dividend policy.

Mercialys will be accounted for by Casino under the equity method at the date of the change of control.

The extraordinary return to Mercialys’ shareholders would enable Casino to fully recover its investments in Mercialys, generating an excellent return on investment.

Jean-Charles Naouri, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Casino Group said: «This new strategic step of Mercialys’ development relies upon new value-creating drivers while rewarding its committed shareholders; it will enable the company to pursue its path of strong growth and profitability engaged since its IPO. Casino will remain a key shareholder and partner of Mercialys. The group will benefit on its sites from Mercialys’ expertise, reinforced by the new Concept of “Foncière Commerçante”. »

1 Underlying net profit corresponds to the net profit from continuing operations, adjusted for the net impact of other operating income and expense, non-recurring financial items and non-recurring income tax expense/benefits (see 2010 Registration Document: §2.1.4 of the Management Report).

For more information: www.mercialys.com

Press contacts

IMAGE 7

Leslie JUNG – Tel. : + 44 7818 641 803
Ljung@image7.uk.com

GROUPE CASINO

Thierry ORSONI – Tel. : +33 (0)1 53 65 24 78
torsoni@groupe-casino.fr

Frédéric CROCCEL – Tel. +33 (0)1 53 65 24 39
fcroccel@groupe-casino.fr

Investors and Analysts contacts

Régine Gaggioli, + 33 (1) 53 65 64 17
rgaggioli@groupe-casino.fr

IR_Casino@groupe-casino.fr, + 33 (1) 53 65 64 18

About Casino

The Casino Group is one of the leading food retailers in the world. In addition to its 9,500 outlets in France, the group has another 2,200 stores, mainly in Latin America (Brazil and Colombia) and South East Asia (Thailand and Vietnam), which account for 45% of its sales. In 2011, Casino had consolidated sales of €34.4 billion. It employs 230,000 people around the world.

About Mercialys

Mercialys, one of France’s leading real estate companies, is solely active in commercial property. Rental revenue in 2011 came to Euro 161 million and net income, Group share, to Euro 147 million. It owns 120 properties with an estimated value of Euro 2.6 billion (including transfer taxes) at December 31, 2011. Mercialys has benefited from “SIIC” tax status (REIT) since November 1, 2005.

This press release contains forward-looking statements about future events, trends, projects or targets.

These forward-looking statements are subject to identified and unidentified risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Please refer to the Casino “document de reference” for the year to December 31, 2010 available on its website (www.groupe-casino.com) for more details regarding material risk factors and uncertainties that could affect Casino business.

This press release has been prepared for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell securities or related financial instruments. It does not and should not be treated as giving investment advice nor be regarded by recipients as a substitute for the exercise of their own judgments. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is provided in relation to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this document.

Paris, January 12, 2012 – Casino (FR0000125585 – CO), one of the leading food retailers in the world, announces today that the company has established a Sponsored Level 1 American Depositary Receipt (ADR) program in the United States and has appointed Deutsche Bank as the depositary bank for this program.

The ADRs will trade in the United States beginning today in the over-the-counter (OTC) market. Under the program, each Casino ordinary share is represented by five ADRs. The Casino’s ordinary shares are listed on Compartiment A of Euronext Paris under the symbol CO.
The ADR security identification numbers are:
CUSIP NUMBER: 14758Q206
ISIN NUMBER: US14758Q2066

With US investors showing an increasing interest in Casino, this program has been designed to provide them with even more opportunities to be part of the Group’s growth story.
Casino’s existing unsponsored ADRs that have been trading in the US market will be now converted into the sponsored ADR program as Casino establishes the program with its official involvement.
As of end-2011, Casino holds a 13% market share in food retail in France thanks to a complementary mix of convenience, discount and hypermarkets stores. Casino is also the leader in non-food e-commerce through Cdiscount in France.

Outside France, Casino has a leading presence on four fast-growing markets through CBD (Grupo Pao de Acucar) in Brazil, Exito in Colombia and Big C in Thailand and in Vietnam.

Casino’s sponsored ADR program is not for the purpose of raising capital in the US market and does not involve the issue of new shares. Nothing herein shall be deemed to constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy securities.

Analysts and Investors Contacts

Régine Gaggioli
rgaggioli@groupe-casino.fr
+33 1 53 65 64 17

or

IR_Casino@groupe-casino.fr
+33 1 53 65 64 18

CASINO Group Press release

The Casino Group has a market share in Paris which in not higher than 38.5%

According to the competition authority, the CASINO Group’s success in Paris is the result of its strategy and its own merits

• The CASINO Group welcomes and acknowledges the competition authority’s observations, according to which:
  • “The CASINO Group’s success can be attributed to its strategy and its own merits…” The competing groups “have favoured the opening of large stores in the suburbs of large cities.”
  • The Authority’s concern with regard to competition is not based on “potential anti-competitive behaviours”

• The CASINO Group recalls however that:
  • Its market share in Paris, combined with that of Monoprix, is no higher than 38.5% according to three studies.
  • The €3.7 bn market value the competition authority retains is in no way representative of the Parisian food consumption market, for it excludes expenditures at traditional retailers, specialised retailers, food-related e-commerce, food markets and suburban hypermarkets.
  • The Parisian market is an open one, with no barriers to entry, on which there are numerous setting up opportunities

• The CASINO Group offers competitive prices, notably through its own brands, and innovates continuously to satisfy the Parisian consumers’ needs.

Paris, January 11, 2012 – The CASINO Group welcomes and acknowledges the competition authority’s observations, according to which:

• “The CASINO Group’s success can be attributed to its strategy and its own merits…” The competing groups “have favoured the opening of large stores in the suburbs of large cities.”
• The Authority’s concern with regards to competition is not based on “potential anti-competitive behaviours”

However, the CASINO Group reminds that the notification does not take the whole dimension of the Parisian market into account: it is a perfectly competitive market with a large number of players.

I/ The CASINO Group has a market share in Paris which, combined with that of Monoprix, is no higher than 38.5%. Historically, it has pursued an altogether different strategy to that of its competitors, by favouring downtown locations.

Three studies relying on different and independent sources prove that the combined market shares of the CASINO Group and Monoprix banners in Paris range between 33% et 38,5%.

• A Kantar Worldpanel study, conducted on the basis of a representative panel of Parisian consumers taken from its national database, assessed that the CASINO Group banners represent only 38.5% of the Parisians’ food consumption.
• Mapp, an economic studies practice (Professor David Spector) has calculated the area shares as weighted by the population density and found a result of 33%;

At last, based on objective Insee data, the ratio of Casino Group’s and Monoprix’ market share to the overall value of the Parisians’ consumption is of 36.5% (ratio of a €2.3 bn turnover in Paris to the Parisians’ €6.2 bn food consumption¹). The market value in Paris that the Authority retained was only of €3.7 bn . This figure is in no way representative of the Parisian food consumption market, for it excludes expenditures at traditional retailers, specialised retailers, food-related e-commerce, food markets and suburban hypermarkets.

Besides, a client of Franprix carries out only 14.9% of his/her purchases at Franprix in Paris² against 30.8% for Carrefour and 26.5% for Leclerc in the Ile-de-France region. This proves that Franprix gets a small share of the Parisians’ food budget, and confirms the diversity in food consumption behaviours of the urban consumers, who can choose between numerous competitors.

The October 2010 APUR (Atelier Parisien d’Urbanisme) urban study is in no way representative of the Parisian food consumption market and relies on partial calculation based on incomplete hypotheses.

• • By its nature, this urban study analyses Paris, its study and prerogative area, as though it were in a vacuum, totally isolated from the suburbs, and ignores the competition from the suburban hypermarkets and shopping centres. It also overlooks the booming e-commerce sector, as well as all the other types of businesses within Paris.
  • It actually assesses only part of the retail formats, within Paris, whereas the Parisians make only 51% of their food purchases in these stores (source: Kantar survey/ January 2011). Indeed according to this study, 25% of the Parisians’ food purchases from hypermarkets and supermarkets are made outside of Paris, while 24% of their food expenditure are made in formats that the study does not take into account³.
  • Moreover, the APUR overweighs the market share of downtown retailers, to the detriment of large retailers since it does not take into account the fact that the sale density increases according to the size of the store.
  • In average, the sale density of a hypermarket (Auchan, Leclerc) is higher than that of a convenience store (Franprix) by more than 60%⁴.

¹ Source : Insee 2009.
² Source: Kantar
³ (Markets: 5,1%, specialised traditional retailers: 8,1% and other particular channels: 11,3%, except bakeries, confectioneries and caterers).
⁴ Source: Nielsen

The CASINO Group was a pioneer in Paris thanks to its historical strategy favouring downtown areas and services to the consumers

• Since it was founded in 1898, concerned with proximity and services to the consumers, the CASINO Group has always favoured downtown sales areas. This strategy can largely explain the CASINO Group’s current position in Paris and has played a major role in revitalising downtown areas.
• Its competitors, on the other hand, considering these formats were unprofitable, have for a long time consciously chosen not to invest in in-town retail trade, and favoured suburban hypermarkets and shopping centres.
• By investing when many historical independent downtown banners were disappearing (Codec, Félix Potin, Prisunic, Uniprix, etc,)5 the CASINO Group has revitalised the Parisian downtown commercial dynamism, which was in the midst of a crisis at the end of the 1990s, and it has favoured the development of attractive catchment areas enabling the implementation of numerous food retailers.
• The 1998 Franprix-Leader Price buyback operation en 1998 and the 2000 joint takeover of Monoprix were authorised by the competition authorities.

II/ The Parisian market is an open one, with no barriers to entry, on which there are numerous setting up opportunities.

The Parisian market is an open one, with no barriers to entry

The Parisian market is an open market on which there is, each year, an important offer of vacant business premises, and on which transactions are numerous:

• The numerous offers made by real estate agencies, to which all the players in the sector have full access, confirm that the real estate market is totally smoothly-running and offers CASINO’s competitors many opportunities.
• Since January 1, 2010, CASINO has declined offers for more than 200 premises available for food retailing, which amounted to an overall surface of more than 75,000 m² within Paris. Many of them have been taken over by competitors.

Furthermore, along the terms of the 2008 French law on the modernisation of the economy (loi de modernisation de l’économie [LME]), the opening of stores which surface areas is less than 1 000 m² does not require prior authorisation (before the enacting of the law, there was a 300 m² threshold), which gives competitors the opportunity to freely open new retail spaces.

The CASINO Group’s competitors are already significantly growing in Paris :

• Most retail banners are already present on the Parisian market, or are significantly growing: 55 competitor stores have opened within Paris between January 1, 2007 and December 30, 2010 (Auchan Simply Market and « A 2Pas »; Carrefour City and Carrefour Market ; banners affiliated to Francap such as Coccimarket, Diagonal, G20 and Sitis ; U Express ; Picard).
• 17 have opened since January 1, 2011, and at least 12 competing projects should be launched in the first months of 2012, representing a 13,744 m² overall surface.

The CASINO Group banners increasingly find themselves in open competition with numerous formats located within Paris or in its immediate surroundings:

The hypermarkets that are located in the immediate surroundings of the capital city represent a very large part of the Parisian food consumption:

• 14 hypermarkets, all belonging to 4 groups that compete with CASINO, are located in the immediate surroundings of Paris and have a food-related turnover amounting to the equivalent of 265 Franprix (that is to say 82% of Franprix’ turnover in Paris).
• These hypermarkets largely contribute to the 25% of food expenditure made by the Parisians outside of Paris⁶ ; 72% of the Parisian population live in districts adjacent to the suburb (which amounts to 1.583.689 persons) and have an immediate access to those stores located on the outskirts of the city.
• Moreover, delivery from these stores into Paris also constitutes an important source of competition in Paris and makes it clear that the Parisian consumer is not limited to a single catchment area. Indeed, several hypermarkets deliver at home within Paris, free of charge.

Increasingly numerous food markets:

• There are 82 primarily food-markets within Paris, 13 of which are covered. These markets represent 9,000 merchants.

Many food businesses and specialised retailers:

• In Paris, there are 30 groceries, specialised retailers and frozen food retailers for 10,000 inhabitants (against 19 in the rest of France). These retailers allegedly represent from 35 to 40% of the food market, that is to say an important overrepresentation when compared with the rest of France⁷.

A quickly growing food-related e-commerce:

• E-commerce is particularly well-suited to the Parisian way of life and consumption habits; it therefore puts an increasing competitive pressure on the stores.
• In Paris, it already represents a turnover of about 200 million Euros, that is to say 3% of the Parisians’ consumption⁸, and it is experiencing very fast growth.

On this market, which is already wide open to competition, more and more Parisian consumers are adopting a “switching” attitude:

• They shop from different types of formats (hypermarkets, local supermarkets, food markets, food retailers) and scarcely stick with a particular banner.

•  334,000 Parisians work outside of Paris in the major suburban centres where CASINO’s competitors are particularly powerful, and consequently make their purchases there.

⁶ Kantar Worldpanel Studies 2011
⁷ Union du Grand Commerce de Centre-ville
⁸ That is to say as much as the revenues of 60 Franprix or of the Auchan hypermarket in Bagnolet.

On the still growing Parisian market, there are numerous setting up and development opportunities

• Paris is still short of large food retail spaces, and has the lowest density in mainland France (169m² for 1,000 inhabitants in Paris against 338 m² for 1,000 inhabitants in the provinces, according to the 2011 Nielsen Trade Dimensions).
• The Atelier Parisien d’Urbanisme has counted 7900 ground-floor vacant premises⁹. The social landlords and real estate companies that have a partnership with the City of Paris have several thousands of ground-floor vacant premises at their disposal. The City of Paris, which has at its disposal a wide array of ways and means to revitalize even more the setting up of new players if it wishes to do so, could thus offer these premises in order to ease the development of food retail spaces in Paris.
• Furthermore, the development of many downtown stores projects on the Parisian market proves how sharp competition is in Paris:
  • Carrefour continues to expand in Paris and has just announced the opening of a 3,500 m² hypermarket near the Madeleine.
  • Auchan is growing in Paris notably through its Simply Market and A2pas banners.
  • Intermarché has made of Paris a development priority area in France through the Intermarché Express banner.
  • Marks & Spencer is re-establishing itself in Paris by opening a hypermarket in Beaugrenelle, a supermarket on the Champs-Elysées, and convenience stores in Paris.

III/ The CASINO Group offers competitive prices, notably through its own brands, and innovates constantly to satisfy the Parisian consumers’ needs.

The CASINO group offers in Paris prices that are competitive and most often lower than those of its competitors as far as private label products are concerned

• The CASINO Group has included high-quality products at discount prices in its downtown stores and thereby contributes to reducing significantly the amount of the most modest Parisians’ food expenditure.
• The average basket of the Parisian consumers shopping at Franprix is indeed made of 58% of privale label products, including Leader Price, a discount own brand retailer. This confirms and reinforces the observation according to which, given Franprix’ and Leader Price’s uniqueness when compared with their competitors, price comparisons restricted to national brands do not reflect the commercial reality.
• In Leader Price stores, the private label products share is of about 95% in value. Besides, the Nielsen Institute shows10 that, at the national level, the Leader Price banner has the lowest tariff index on the French market, for the private label products (Leader Price brand), which are 10% cheaper than the national average, as well as for the first-price products (Le Prix Gagnant brand), which are 11% cheaper than the national average.

CASINO constantly innovates in order to serve increasingly demanding Parisian consumers, by offering services that meet the urban consumers’ expectations.

• In Paris, 3.3 millions of Parisian consumers11 are considered as “switchers”.
• In order to meet the Parisian consumers’ demands and new ways of life, the Casino group keeps implementing new services.
  • In Paris, Franprix invests constantly in the renovation of its sale points (about 4.5% of its revenues) and has developed a new concept for which it was awarded the 2009 Janus Prize du Commerce (Retail award).
  • Priority to customer servicestomers and their welcomingenabled Franprix to come up 1st large retailer in terms of customers’ welcoming in a ranking made in 2010 by the Human Consulting Group practice.
  • Franprix is constantly offering new services :
    • Timetables have been adapted to the Parisian way of life (since 2007 they moved from 19:30 to 21:00, or even 22:00).
    • New product ranges: development of the thematic and ethnical ranges ; organic products from fair trade and/or sustainable development.
    • Logistics that include a sustainable development ambition (door-to-door delivery in electric carts, silent refrigerated lorries).

⁹ 7,900 vacant premises have been counted by the City of Paris, that is to say 9.4% of the premises (APUR, January 2009, « Le commerce à Paris. Banque de données sur le commerce parisien: recensement 2007 et évolution depuis 2005 ».)
10 Nielsen Institute Survey (June 2011)

Press contacts

IMAGE 7

Grégoire LUCAS – Tél. +33 (0)1 53 70 74 94 glucas@image7.fr / Karine ALLOUIS – Tél. +33 (0)1 53 70 74 81 kallouis@image7.fr

CASINO GROUP

Thierry ORSONI – Tél. +33 (01) 53 65 24 78 torsoni@groupe-casino.fr / Frédéric CROCCEL – Tél. +33 (0)1 53 65 24 39 fcroccel@groupe-casino.fr

– The Casino Group will have to pay €7.25M to the Baud family compared to €550M they originally requested;

– Given the “obvious exaggeration” of their demands, the Baud family has been ordered to reimburse €1M to the Casino Group for legal costs incurred

Saint-Etienne, December 28, 2011 – Casino has become aware of the arbitration decision in the dispute between Casino and the Baud family, as a shareholder of Geimex, which operates the Leader Price brand internationally.

The Baud family accused Casino to have intentionally deprived them of their preferential right when proceeding with the disposal of the polish assets to the Tesco group in 2006. They sought €550M for compensation, reduced to €517M as of the day of the court hearing. Casino, for its part, has always acknowledged the omission of notification but pleaded the unintentional nature of this omission and objected to the obviously excessive demands of the Baud family.

In its decision of December 23, 2011, the arbitration tribunal rejected all claims of intent from Casino and awarded damages of €7.25M for the loss of opportunity caused by the omission of notification, only 1.4% of the amount claimed by the Baud family as reported by the arbitration tribunal.

Casino will have to pay that amount to the Baud family minus €1M, paid by the Baud family to Casino to reimburse legal costs, in light of the “obvious exaggeration” of their demands.

This €6.25M is therefore disproportionate to the Baud family’s initial demands and has no significant impact on the Group’s accounts.

About the Casino Group

The Casino Group is one of the leading food retailers in the world. In addition to its 9,500 outlets in France (Géant Casino, Casino supermarkets, Franprix, Leader Price, Monoprix, Petit Casino, Spar, Vival and Cdiscount), the company has another 2,200 stores, mainly in Latin America (Brazil and Colombia) and South East Asia (Thailand and Vietnam), which account for 40% of its sales. In 2010, Casino had consolidated sales of €29 billion. It employs 230,000 people around the world.

Press contacts

IMAGE 7
Leslie JUNG
Tel. : +44 7818 641 803
ljung@image7.uk.com

GROUPE CASINO
Thierry ORSONI
Tel. +33 (0)1 53 65 24 78
torsoni@groupe-casino.fr

Paris, December 21st 2011

Big C Thailand, a subsidiary of Casino Group announced today that the timeline for the capital increase plan approved by its Board of Directors on 19 October 2011 and the details for the next Extraordinary General Meeting (“EGM”) will be considered at the next meeting of the Board of Directors at the beginning of 2012.

Taking into consideration both the extraordinary conditions resulting from the floods in Thailand and their aftermath and the timing of the year, Big C considered that it was not practicable to hold the EGM within this year.

Analysts and Investors Contacts

Régine GAGGIOLI
rgaggioli@groupe-casino.fr
+33 1 53 65 64 17

Aline NGUYEN
Anguyen@groupe-casino.fr
+33 1 53 65 64 85

Since 2009, the Casino Group has held the AFNOR Diversity Label, which is awarded to companies that have implemented a comprehensive, properly structured anti-discrimination policy, and the Group remains convinced that team diversity is a factor in both social cohesion and economic performance. Its commitment to equality has just moved up a gear with the signing of a new agreement with the social partners on gender equality in the workplace, based on the areas for improvement identified by Terrafemina.

Gender equality in the workplace is one of the HR priority objectives of the Casino Group, which signed a gender equality agreement with the social partners in its DCF subsidiary as early as 2005.

In 2008, the group also introduced equal pay measures as part of the mandatory annual round of negotiations, with the result that, for equivalent positions, salaries are now at the same level for men and women within the Group.

And in 2010, the Group worked with Terrafemina to carry out a company by company study/diagnosis covering 2008, 2009 and mid-2010, in order to identify the priority areas for improvement that were used as the basis for negotiating the professional gender equality agreement announced today. The Group agreement will apply to every branch and subsidiary from the beginning of 2012.

The agreement covers five major themes : recruitment, training, remuneration, career development and parenting. It also aims to ensure that women are more aware of the managerial positions available to them, including field positions, and provides for various steps to be taken in areas such as combating stereotypes, with the completion of a recruitment guide for all the Group’s HR and recruitment managers. The guide contains specific recommendations and a number of measures to facilitate female employees’ access to training and provisions on remuneration (equality on recruitment, gradual reduction of existing pay gaps, upgrading of part-time contracts). It also aims to ensure fair treatment in career development and a better balance between work and family life by, for example, pursuing partnerships to carry out inter-company crèche projects.

The aim of the framework agreement is to extend the benefit of tried-and tested measures to all Group companies. Within Casino Distribution France, for example, between 2005 and 2010 the percentage of female employees increased from 15.6% to 21.67% for the “executive” category and from 31.6% to 37.12% for supervisors.

The agreement complements and enhances the Group’s very proactive policy for women, as well as recent initiatives such as its work with the Parenting Observatory, whose charter the Group signed up to in 2008, or the creation of a separate, independent network known as “C’avec elles”, which brings together more than 400 of Casino’s female executives. It aims to provide its members with a forum for discussion and dialogue, promote their career development and improve their visibility within the Group.
About the Casino Group

The Casino Group is a leading global food retailer. In addition to its 9,500 outlets in France (Géant Casino, Casino supermarché, Franprix, Leader Price, Monoprix, Petit Casino, Spar, Vival and Cdiscount), the Group owns 2,200 stores abroad, primarily in Latin America (Brazil and Colombia) and South-East Asia (Thailand and Vietnam), which account for 40% of its business. In 2010, the Casino Group achieved a consolidated turnover of 29 billion euros. It employs 230,000 people around the world.

Press Contacts :

IMAGE 7

Catherine DESGRANDCHAMPS
Tel. : +33 (0) 1 53 70 74 44
cdesgrandchamps@image7.fr

Priscille RENEAUME
Tel. : +33 (0) 1 53 70 74 61
preneaume@image7.fr

CASINO GROUP

Frédéric CROCCEL
Tel. : +33 (0) 1 53 65 24 39
fcroccel@groupe-casino.fr