Carrefour "neutral" maintained

03/06/03 - Merrill Lynch

NEW YORK, March 06 (New Ratings) - Analysts at Merrill Lynch reiterate their "neutral" rating on Carrefour.

Shares of Carrefour, a company that has a range of supermarkets in over 30 countries, are currently trading at €34.21.

According to Merrill Lynch’s research note, the company registered a profit margin of 40 basis points in H2. Although Carrefour is lowering prices to push sales and expand its customer base, the analysts believe that this may negatively impact the company’s revenues.

Merrill Lynch says it is also concerned about the company’s weak liquidity position, higher costs and a lower capacity of debt repayment.

The EPS estimate for 2002 and 2003 are €2.39 and €2.39, respectively. The P/E estimates for 2002 and 2003 are 14.32x and 13.11x, respectively.

Merrill Lynch issues a "neutral" rating on Carrefour.