Yves Claude is faced with a decision that “is not easy to make”.
The CEO of Auchan Retail International on Sunday defended the maintenance of the group's activities in Russia because "leaving would be imaginable from an economic point of view but not from a human point of view".
Asked by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before the French Parliament on Wednesday about his activity in Russia, where he has been present for twenty years and employs 30,000 people, Auchan has decided to stay in the country even if he foresees losses there. for 2022, explains Yves Claude in an interview with the
Journal du Dimanche
.
In Russia, where Auchan achieves 10% of its global sales, "we have a discounter positioning and we believe we will contribute in a period of high inflation to protecting the purchasing power of the inhabitants", he adds, specifying that he does not want to deprive its employees, 40% of whom are shareholders, of their jobs and its customers of their daily bread.
"It's easy to criticize us, but we are here, we face up and we act for the civilian population", he answers the critics who call on the Mulliez Family Association (Leroy Merlin, Auchan or Decathlon) to leave Russia. , believing that its brands make it one of the biggest contributors to the Russian state budget.
“Extreme” conditions in Ukraine
Yves Claude, recently appointed head of Auchan Retail and Auchan France, recalls that Auchan has suspended its investments in Russia and that its subsidiary (232 stores and e-commerce activities) operates there “in autarky”.
Like other groups, it also argues that a withdrawal would expose its local leaders to lawsuits and bail out Russian capital, a "counterproductive" move.
Auchan is also present in Ukraine, where the group operates 43 stores there and has 6,000 employees.
The conditions there are "extreme" and stock-outs of fresh produce have begun to be observed because 90% of the produce comes from within the country.
Supply solutions from neighboring countries were put in place this week, specifies the CEO.
A hundred Ukrainian employees have been welcomed by their counterparts abroad and will be recruited elsewhere by the group, whose shareholders will devote part of the dividend to help the refugees, he explains again.
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