Carrefour slips after French sales decline in Q1

** Shares in Carrefour CA drop 2.5% as the French supermarket giant posted lower sales in France, its core market, and overall slower sales momentum in Europe in Q1

** In France the group's hypermarket sales were down 1.7% in Q1 2024 compared with a 0.3% rise in Q4 2023, while overall Q1 sales in France were down 0.4%

** The company also increased its planned cost cutting for 2024 by 200 million euros ($214 million) to 1.2 billion euros, with the aim of winning back market share in a context of tough competition

** Morgan Stanley says overall LFL sales momentum came in below consensus in every segment, with 4 out of 8 countries turning negative y/y, and points to a slowdown in Europe

** "The slowdown in France was better than we feared, but nevertheless given further price investments to come, we worry that full year LFL expectations of +1.3% are too high", MS adds

** The broker also says French market share may take a while to recover, given the price gap vs Leclerc is currently at 8%

($1 = 0.9360 euros)