Without calendar effects and fuel, the growth would have reached 2.1%. Its convenience stores and supermarkets performed well, while its hypermarkets achieved a small increase.In the other European countries, the group showed a Ђ5.331bn turnover, which is a 2% like-for-like increase. The elimination of calendar effects and fuel would bring this to 1.5%.The branch in Belgium outclassed the average by a huge margin, indicating a 5% like-for-like turnover increase.
The exclusion of calendar effects and fuel left 3.8%. It appears that the Red Devils and the world championship football have not missed their target.The group’s biggest growth was in emerging markets where turnover saw a growth of 8.4%, even without calendar effects and fuel. Argentina and Brazil were the main contributors, with figures of 42.4% and 15.2% respectively.