The boss of Auchan declares in the “JDD” that 40% of the group’s employees in Russia are shareholders, and that the presence of its supermarkets protects “the purchasing power of the inhabitants”.
Le Monde with AFP
According to his words, it’s a choice that is “not simple”. The CEO of Auchan Retail International, Yves Claude, defended, Sunday, March 27th, the maintenance of the Group’s activities in Russia. “Leaving would be imaginable economically but not from a human point of view,” he says in an interview at Sunday log .
Interpelled by the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in front of the French Parliament Wednesday on his activity in Russia, where he has been present for twenty years and employs 30,000 people, the Auchan Group has decided to stay in the country itself He expects losses for 2022, explains Mr. Claude.
In Russia, where Auchan realizes 10% of its global sales, “we have a positioning of discounter and we think we contribute in times of high inflation to protect the purchasing power of the inhabitants,” he adds, stating Do not want to deprive its employees, 40% of which are shareholders, their jobs and its customers their daily food needs. “Our customers urge us to stay,” he explains.
“Easy to criticize us”
“It’s easy to criticize, but we are here, we face and we act for the civilian population,” he answers the critics who call the family association Mulliez (Leroy Merlin, Auchan or Decathlon) To leave Russia, believing that its brands make it one of the biggest taxpayers for the Russian state budget.
Yves Claude, recently appointed at the head of Auchan Retail and Auchan France, recalls that Achhan has suspended his investments in Russia and that his subsidiary (232 stores and online commerce activities) works “in autarky “.
“If we go, we risk the expropriation and expose our local leaders to criminal proceedings for fraudulent bankruptcy. And if we entrust our property to a third party, another option proposed, it means that they will be recovered by Russian capital. This will not bring peace and will on the contrary counterproductive by strengthening the Russian economic and financial ecosystem, “he explains ..
“I ask myself questions every day, because the decision is not easy to take, but I am convinced that it is good. I feel supported by my shareholders, my employees and our social partners” But also by politicians, says Yves Claude, questioned about the consequences of this maintenance on the image of the group. He concludes by saying not “feel” of intense debates within the Mulliez family association, which employs 77,500 in Russia.
“extreme” conditions in Ukraine
In Ukraine, where Auchan operates 43 stores (6,000 employees), the conditions are “extreme” and breaks of fresh produce stocks began to be observed because 90% of the products came from within the country. Supply solutions since the neighboring countries have been put in place this week, specifies the CEO.
A hundred Ukrainian employees were welcomed by their counterparts abroad and will be recruited elsewhere by the group, whose shareholders will devote part of the dividend to help refugees, still explain.