After a challenging start, Carrefour looks to flotation

After some challenging years since setting up in Israel, this year, Carrefour, the French supermarket chain for which Electra Consumer Products (TASE: ECP) holds the Israeli franchise, has undergone many changes. The latest is the appointment of a new CEO, Inbal Herson, until recently chief commercial and sales officer at the Central Bottling Company (Coca Cola Israel), replacing Michael Luboshitz, who has been appointed joint chairperson of Global Retail CI, the company via which Electra Consumer Products holds Carrefour Israel, alongside Zvika Schwimmer.

Herson is due to take up the CEO post on August 1. In advance of that, there may be changes in the company’s senior management structure. Last week “Globes” revealed the departure of two senior managers. The company asserts that this was not a case of dismissals, but of natural movement of people within the enterprise. The spokesperson of Electra Consumer Products has also decided to leave after two intense years.

“The company is now in its best ever position in terms of manpower and relations between management and board,” Schwimmer said talking to “Globes”. “From time to time companies refresh their manpower and management, and that’s to be welcomed. I believe that the new CEO will put together the best mix of people around her and will be able to strengthen the company even more and improve its performance.

“About fifty people competed for this job,” Schwimmer said, adding that Herson was chosen because “she is one of the strongest names in the food market, a very highly respected manager, with rich experience. She really lives this market.”

Market sources say that the turnover in manpower at Carrefour may actually stem from intervention by the owners of the parent company, but Schwimmer denies this forcefully. “The company is run properly, in accordance with clear corporate governance principles,” he says. “It has a chairperson, a board of directors, and a management, and that is the sole axis of decision making.

“The shareholders are not a factor in the context of the management and the manpower structure. I’m happy that most of our management is of longstanding and good, and is an inseparable part of the improvement in our results in the past few years.”

“Working on a prospectus”

In May 2023, Carrefour launched 50 initial branches at the same time, at an investment that reportedly amounted to NIS 250 million. Since then, the number of branches has tripled, and throughout the period the chain has fought to return the Electra group’s big investment in Carrefour, totaling more than NIS 650 million and to make the company profitable, or at least to reduce substantially its debts to suppliers and the banks.

Carrefour Israel swings to profit despite debt

The change came in 2025. From a loss of NIS 190 million in the launch year (2023), the chain switched to a net profit of NIS 16 million, and in the first quarter of 2026 it posted a net profit of NIS 6 million.

In addition, Schwimmer and Luboshitz led the chain to a substantial reduction in its bank debt, from NIS 507 million in 2023 to NIS 185 million in June 2026. The negative EBITDA that Carrefour presented at the beginning, minus NIS 33 million, became positive, reaching NIS 140 million in 2025 and NIS 40 million in the first quarter of 2026.

“The chain has very good trading agreements, partly thanks to its size,” Schwimmer says. “In addition, we have recently taken on workers from Thailand, and everything is being done in accordance with the company’s business plan. We have reached all the goals that we set for ourselves in 2023. We have switched to positive results and positive equity, and we have reached financing arrangements with the shareholders.

“We kept all the promises we made to the banks and the capital market. When we look ahead, in the light of the state of the economy, our results, and the common wish of all the company’s shareholders, we are examining a flotation on the basis of the 2026 results.”

A flotation of the company, as a public company separate from Electra Consumer Products, has been on the table since the end of 2025, and the industry is following the matter closely. “We are currently working on a prospectus and examining the right time,” Schwimmer says. “We are close to making a decision about the timing, but it depends on the results of the coming quarters.

“A flotation at this time would be a very good thing. Together with the board, the management, and the workers, we have created a very healthy situation for examining such a big move. Particularly in the super-competitive food market, in which many of our competitors are looking at us and want to thwart our attempt to put Carrefour on the stock exchange.”

Because the Concentration Law does not allow a ladder of three public companies in a group (Elco (TASE: ELCO), the parent company of Electra Consumer Products, cannot have Carrefour as a public company at a third level under it), the chain is examining another way of making the move. “There are many ways and options for examining how to float Carrefour in the right format,” Schwimmer explains. “Everything is on the table, and we are looking to see the best possibility for us.”

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on July 8, 2026.

Source link