Carrefour cuts profit forecast as French riot damage tops 1.2bn euros

French supermarket chain Carrefour cut its full-year profit forecast on Tuesday, saying riots and looting had kept customers away, undermined consumer confidence and raised costs, German newspaper Tagesspiegel reported. The company said adjusted earnings per share would likely only hold steady or grow slightly this year, down from an earlier forecast of high single-digit growth.

Carrefour chief executive Alexandre Bompard said the unrest had put the group in a situation it had never faced before in France, adding there was major uncertainty over consumer spending and over when all its stores could fully reopen, the company said in a statement reported by Tagesspiegel.

More than 3,000 shops were destroyed or looted nationwide over the riot weekend, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported. In Paris's Chatelet-Les Halles district, shoe shops including Foot Locker and Snipes remained boarded up with handwritten "closed" signs two days later, while a beauty salon on Boulevard de Sebastopol was left with only broken glass on the floor, the newspaper reported.

Nightly curfews remained in force in several cities: Paris reimposed an overnight curfew for the Halles district and Place de la Republique, Lyon's city centre was under curfew until Wednesday morning, and Marseille barred minors from going out at night in some districts until Friday, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported.

Insurer Axa is giving customers 30 days instead of five to declare damage claims, chief executive Thomas Buberl said on broadcaster BFM Business, and is offering immediate liquidity help and a solidarity fund in difficult cases. Ratings agency Morningstar DBRS estimated insured damage at just under 1.2 billion euros, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported.

France's finance minister, Roland Lescure, announced an interest-free loan of up to 50,000 euros for affected shops through state bank Bpifrance, plus a dedicated support fund for businesses with fewer than 50 employees, after meeting retailers on Tuesday, the newspaper reported. The government has also pledged to fully cover short-time-work costs for staff at damaged shops.

Authorities met representatives of online platforms including Vinted, Amazon and Meta to agree tougher action against listings suspected of selling looted goods, which began appearing within days of the unrest, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported. Evidence points to organised gangs targeting sportswear, luxury-goods and electronics stores, the newspaper said; Germany's foreign ministry has advised German citizens travelling to France to act with caution.