Auchan to sell 19 french supermarkets to Lidl
supermarket
group
Auchan
will sell 19 stores in its home market to Germany's
Lidl
as it seeks to improve its financial position and avoid further job cuts, the two businesses said on Wednesday.
Battered by a decline in customer traffic for over ten years, Auchan said last November that it would cut over 2,000 jobs in France and in May announced the closure of 25 stores and over 700 job cuts in Spain.
The companies did not disclose financial details of the transaction.
Auchan, which operates large supermarkets in France and elsewhere, is shifting to smaller stores and online sales as the rise of e-commerce pushes people to buy groceries and bigger-ticket items such as home appliances online.
The companies are in exclusive negotiations over the sale of ten supermarkets from Auchan's historic park and nine which the French group bought from Casino in 2024, they said in the statement.
Completion of the sale, subject to antitrust clearance, is expected by year end, the companies said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
3 hours ago
- Indian Express
Coin mint, elephant stable and dockyard – chance discovery of cannonballs in Goa sheds light on Portuguese-era arsenal
The discovery of cannonballs during an excavation process in Goa in March this year has shed more light on a Portuguese-era arsenal, where coins were minted and warships built, a report submitted by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to the state's Tourism Department shows. The report, submitted in June, says the 'arsenal' also consisted of a gun foundry, a naval dockyard, and an elephant stable. 'European weaponry and naval equipment were either stored or manufactured on the site,' the report says. In March 2025, the ASI Goa circle directed the state's tourism department to halt the excavation work for a project in Old Goa, to allow 'proper documentation' after some cannonballs were discovered at a site. As per the report, the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) had secured a central government grant to upgrade and provide visitor amenities at the Basilica of Bom Jesus. The work was going on west of the church complex to develop a Heritage Interpretation Centre and a parking lot. On March 22, the ASI Goa Circle spotted some cannonballs, following which the GTDC was instructed to stop the work and demarcate the exact location. Citing authors and historians of Portuguese maritime and colonial history, the report concludes that the area of discovery of cannonballs on March 22 is 'analogous with the location of arsenal' identified in the historical accounts over the years. 'This arsenal area lies within the city walls of Old Goa, which was the… capital of Portuguese Estado da India (State of India),' the report says. It says the area bears 'significant archaeological potential, which has also been testified by the spade work carried out' from April 7, 2025, to May 14, 2025. 'The archaeological profile of this area is marked by the presence of cannonballs of various sizes, weights, materials, in addition to… various kinds of pottery and porcelain sherds of distinct ceramic traditions,' the report adds. As per the ASI report, General Afonso de Albuquerque, who led the Portuguese conquest of Goa in the early 16th Century, initiated the complex's development and 'its grandeur was documented by European travellers'. 'Sources suggest that the arsenal may have predated Portuguese conquest and existed during the Adil Shahi period, implying it was a prominent edifice even before Albuquerque's arrival… When Albuquerque entered Goa, he found at the dock 40 large ships, 26 brigs, numerous fustas, and other materials related to warfare,' the report says. The arsenal was subsequently restructured. 'By 1540, about 700 workers were employed and the arsenal reached its zenith by the late 16th century,' it said. The report said that French navigator Francois Pyrard de Laval, during his 1608 visit, described it as 'well-fortified and equipped with stone-built rooms for artisans to reduce fire hazards.' A major fire broke out on June 9, 1753, damaging part of the arsenal. 'It was renovated and expanded in 1773. However, with the decline of Portuguese influence, the arsenal lost its importance and was closed in 1856,' the report adds. A tour guide, who has been conducting heritage tours in Old Goa for the past three decades, said, 'The arsenal was supposedly a walled enclosure within a walled city. Considering the importance of the gun foundry and mint, it was strictly guarded by the Portuguese, and only authorised personnel working at the site were allowed to enter. The naval dockyard was adjacent to it. The mint is believed to have shifted later to Panaji. Many documents were destroyed in a major fire in Lisbon sometime in the 18th Century, so we do not have the exact blueprints of these edifices.' 'To launch an attack on enemy ships or armed troops, the Portuguese, at the time, used stone cannonballs since they splintered into bits upon impact and caused more damage, as opposed to metal cannonballs. Portuguese cannons were typically smaller in size and could be mounted on ships or land. The limitation was that their range was limited. Such cannons were supposedly built at the arsenal here,' he said. In the book, The Portuguese in India [volume 1], British civil servant Frederick Charles Danvers wrote that when Albuquerque entered Goa in 1510, 'accompanied by his captains, about 1,000 Portuguese and 200 Malabarese' and received the keys of the fortress from the Governor and principal Moors of the city, he found 'a large quantity of artillery and stores, besides forty ships and sixteen fustas, quantities of merchandise, and some spacious stables containing 160 horses…'. The book, which the ASI has referred to, records that the arsenals at Goa at the time were 'full of artillery, saddles and horse gear, weapons, and all kinds of munitions and material of war.' It also mentions that soon after the first conquest of Goa, Albuquerque established a mint and gave instructions for the coinage of gold, silver, and copper money… after it was 'represented to him that the people of the city and the merchants were suffering from a great depression consequent on the want of currency.' The ASI report added that 'any future work in this area by an agency is likely to bring to light more such cultural vestiges.' An ASI official, requesting anonymity, said, '(The spot) was an arsenal area, which has been historically documented. During trial trenching, we found several scattered cannonballs and sporadic brick structures.'
India.com
7 hours ago
- India.com
France to unveil multi-purpose latest version of Rafale fighter jet with ultramodern features, its name..., features include...
New Delhi: France is going to make its Rafale fighter aircraft more powerful. Dassault Aviation, the company that makes Rafale, is working on a new version of the jet. The French Armed Forces Ministry says that the DGA has also completed a major campaign to review the operational capabilities of the new Rafale F4.3. This campaign was conducted at the DGA flight test centre in Istres. This is an important step for Dassault Aviation. What was the RAU review campaign? According to the report, the purpose of the RAU review campaign was to test the Rafale F4.3 for real missions. This test included several missions like air-to-air, air-to-ground and air-to-sea. These focused on system performance, sensor fusion, weapons integration and improved connectivity. This was a necessary phase to validate technical improvements before the F4.3 configuration. Why is the new Rafale special? Dassault's Rafale is a twin-engine, delta-wing, multi-purpose fighter jet. Rafale is equipped with two Snecma M88-4E engines, which are capable of super cruise. It offers a high thrust-to-weight ratio and strong performance at all altitudes. It is equipped with Thales RBE2-AA AESA radar, SPECTRA electronic warfare suite and OSF infrared search and track system. Rafale has been designed with 70% composite materials to reduce radar and infrared signals. Rafale can carry up to 9.5 tonnes of weapons on a 30 mm GIAT 30 cannon and 14 hardpoints. This includes MICA and Meteor air-to-air missiles, SCALP-EG cruise missiles, Exocet anti-ship missiles and ASMP-A nuclear missiles. What are the features of Rafale Jet 4.3? The new 4.3 standard Rafale has been designed to carry the new generation MICA NG air-to-air missile. The aircraft will be equipped with an advanced SPECTRA self-defence system, contact software radio and TALIOS nacelle. It will be equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. It will also have a self-target identification mode. Rafale F4.3 is capable of assessing the real-time operational capability of onboard systems, tactical communications and sensor suite. Its initial review campaigns will serve as a baseline for the remaining phases and will help move towards full qualification of the Rafale F4.3 standard. This is an important step in France's defence capabilities.
Time of India
10 hours ago
- Time of India
Mistral in talks with VC firms, MGX to raise funds at $10 billion valuation: Report
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills French artificial intelligence startup Mistral is in talks with investors, venture capital firms and Abu Dhabi's MGX to raise $1 billion at a valuation of $10 billion, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the company launched in June Europe's first AI reasoning model , which uses logical thinking to create a response, as it tries to keep pace with American and Chinese rivals at the forefront of AI funding would accelerate the commercial rollout of Mistral's Le Chat chatbot and support continued development of its large language models, the report and Mistral did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for startup raised 600 million euros in a Series B funding round that valued the company at 5.8 billion euros last observers consider Mistral as Europe's best-positioned AI company to rival Silicon Valley leaders, though the French firm has yet to achieve comparable market traction or revenue counts Nvidia, Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Venture Partners among its investors.
