On 18 February 2026, Carrefour presented its plan to 2030: a refocusing on three core markets, France, Spain and Brazil, which account for 85% of consolidated revenue and 99% of the group's recurring operating income for 2025. The same day, the group indicated that, for Belgium, Poland and Argentina, it was keeping all strategic options open, from growth to full or partial disposal.

Seven months later, the portfolio has already shifted. Italy was sold and deconsolidated as of 30 November 2025. Romania was sold on 30 June 2026, on the basis of an enterprise value of 823 million euros. The sale process for Argentina was halted in February, and a new chief executive officer took up his position there on 6 April. The first-half results, published on 23 July, confirm the targets for the year.

This sequence can be read as a story about geography. It is above all a story about executives. Each country in a portfolio under review is in a different state: exited, pending or retained. Each of these states requires a different craft from the person who leads it. This article is not a commentary on one group's strategy, which no one can judge from the outside. It is a reading grid, built on public and dated facts, for any executive, board member or investor in a retailer that is reviewing a portfolio of businesses or countries.

The figures to know

Why this subject matters now

Three reasons, all dated.

The announced disposals are no longer intentions. A refocusing was a statement of strategy. Today, two countries have left the perimeter, with buyers, amounts and closing dates. For a board, the question changes in nature: it is no longer whether portfolio decisions are needed, but who leads each of the consequences.

The plan is entering its execution phase. The first-half 2026 results, published on 23 July, confirm the targets for the year: growth in recurring operating income, an improvement of more than 25 basis points in operating margin, net free cash flow above that of 2025, namely 1.565 billion euros. In France, recurring operating income for the half-year reached 300 million euros, up 13.8%. A strategy announced in February can now be read in figures.

The subject goes beyond a single group. Many international retailers have been built in layers of countries, formats and acquisitions, and are asking themselves the same question: what to keep, what to sell, what to keep for the time being. The Carrefour case is useful because it is public and dated: the three states of a portfolio under review can be seen within a single group.

Two misreadings circulate about this type of refocusing. The first sees it as a retreat: a group contracting. The facts say otherwise: the plan sets margin, investment and market share targets for the three retained countries, and plans to pursue international development through franchising, with the ambition of covering 60 countries by 2030. The second reading sees it as a series of sales. That is inaccurate too: the group halted the sale process for Argentina, and keeps Belgium and Poland under active management. A refocusing is not a liquidation, it is a hierarchy.

A portfolio in three states

The table below sets out the position of the group's countries as at 4 October 2026, as it emerges from press releases and the press.

This table shows that portfolio decisions are not an event but a process that lasts for quarters, and whose outcome is not always the one expected. Argentina is the clearest example: a country put up for sale can once again become a country to be developed, because the offers received do not reflect the value the group sees in it. In a portfolio under review, an executive is therefore not appointed for a perimeter. They are appointed for a state, and for the ability to manage its change.

The disposal executive: a craft of closing

The two disposals Carrefour has already completed give an idea of what this craft involves. Italy: a firm agreement signed in July 2025, closing on 30 November 2025, around four months. Romania: exclusive negotiations announced in February 2026, closing on 30 June, a little over four months. In both cases, a perimeter of several hundred stores, suppliers, landlords and regulatory approvals, to be kept in working order until the keys are handed over.

This executive is not a manager at the end of an assignment. It is the most demanding profile in the portfolio, for three reasons.

They must maintain the performance of an organization they know will change hands. A store network does not stop opening in the morning because its capital is about to change. The disposal executive holds the teams, the suppliers and the customers during the period when group management is already looking elsewhere. Retaining key staff is one of their first concerns, and they have almost no long-term lever to secure it.

They must separate what can be separated. Information systems, purchasing, brands, logistics, central functions: a subsidiary of a large group is rarely autonomous. A disposal is a job of carving out, transitional services and scheduling, which only someone who has already led a closing can carry out without breaking the business.

They must talk to the buyer without betraying the seller. They are the counterpart of two parties whose interests diverge on price, timing and warranties. It is an exercise in dual loyalty, which is hard to prepare for and is accomplished with experience.

A disposal is also a capital allocation decision: the exceptional dividend of 150 million euros paid on 30 July 2026, linked to the closing of Romania, is the trace of it. The disposal executive works for a decision that goes beyond their perimeter, and must understand that.

The pending-state executive: keeping an option open

Between the country being sold and the country being retained, there is a third state, the hardest to describe and perhaps the most demanding to lead: the one where the decision has not been taken. For Belgium, Poland and, until February, Argentina, Carrefour used the expression active asset management, with continued improvement in operating performance and all strategic options open.

In a pending state, the executive's mandate is twofold. They must ensure the perimeter performs whatever the outcome: an asset that recovers sells better, is retained better and develops better. And they must be able to carry several scenarios in parallel without their organization reading them as a threat. This is neither the mandate of a turnaround specializt nor that of an operator: it is that of an executive who accepts managing without knowing the horizon, and who knows how to say so to their teams.

The Argentine case illustrates how mobile this state is. The sale process was halted in February 2026, the group considering that the proposals received did not reflect the value of the business. On 6 April, Noël Prioux, who had led Carrefour Brazil for more than eight years, took over as head of Carrefour Argentina, replacing David Collas. The Argentine press described his priorities: strengthening execution, improving efficiency and rebuilding profitability. On 23 July, the group indicated that sales volumes in Argentina had turned positive again in June for the first time since December 2023, while describing a difficult half-year.

Without judging decisions, which belong to those who take them, one can observe what this sequence teaches a board. Within a few months, a single country moved from a mandate of preparing for disposal to a mandate of turnaround and development. The executive chosen for the first did not necessarily have the profile for the second. A board that has opened a disposal option must therefore ask itself, from the outset: if the option closes, who leads the next stage, and how soon can we know?

A pending state is managed through clarity. What the executive can decide alone, what is reserved to the group, by when the option will be settled, what becomes of the executive in each scenario: these four elements, in writing, change the nature of the mandate. Unwritten, everyone guesses at them, and so do the teams.

The industrialization executive: making performance regular

In the three retained markets, the mandate is of a different nature. The plan sets an operating margin target of 3.2% in 2028 and 3.5% in 2030, a savings objective of 1 billion euros a year by 2030, which combines, according to the press, purchasing gains and the simplification of central functions, and an investment program of around 1.8 billion euros a year initially, moving towards 2 billion by the end of the plan. It relies on artificial intelligence, with the roll-out of electronic shelf labels and in-aisle cameras in France.

The first-half 2026 result gives an idea of what this means on the ground: recurring operating income of 300 million euros in France, up 13.8%, on like-for-like growth of 1.1%. Modest revenue growth, a result that rises markedly: this is the signature of an industrialization mandate, where gains come from repetition, standardisation and cost discipline, not from the event.

This executive has a very different profile from the previous two. They work on a model they do not call into question, but whose yield they increase every year, through thousands of small decisions that no one sees. They hold an execution rhythm over several years, speak to store teams and data teams alike, and remain legible to investors who compare, every half-year, what was delivered against the announced trajectory.

The buyout of the minority shareholders of the Brazilian subsidiary, completed in 2025, is a matter of structure, but it has a governance consequence: the executive of a core market works within a more legible perimeter, with a single shareholder to convince.

What this requires of leadership functions

A portfolio under review shifts the content of several functions, not only that of country heads.

The last row deserves a pause. A board approves the strategy once, when it is presented. In a portfolio under review, it is rewritten country by country, at the pace of offers and results. The board that monitors only the whole does not see that a country has changed state, and that its executive no longer has the right mandate.

Common mistakes

Confusing perimeter and mandate. A country or a business does not define an executive profile. The state it is in, exited, pending or retained, does. Appointing for the perimeter without appointing for the state leads to brilliant executives, but not for the right mission.

Choosing a disposal executive for financial skills alone. A closing is won in operations as much as in the numbers: a network that loses its teams during the transaction loses value before signing. The disposal executive must first know how to hold an organization.

Leaving a perimeter pending without a timetable. An option that stays open without a deadline wears out. Teams end up reading uncertainty as a decision. A board gains from saying when it will decide and on what criteria, even if the outcome remains open.

Thinking that the executive of a core market is the easiest to find. An industrialization mandate seems less spectacular, yet it is rare: it requires maintaining an execution rhythm over several years, with no event to feed motivation.

How to assess an executive for a portfolio under review

1. Have they already led a closing, and what did they do with the teams during it? The answer reveals whether they know how to hold an organization that is changing hands. Ask about the perimeter, the duration, the number of key executive departures, and what they put in place to avoid them.

2. Have they already managed a perimeter whose future was not decided? The account of a situation where they had to perform without knowing the outcome shows their ability to handle ambiguity and speak plainly to their teams.

3. What was their position when a disposal project was halted? An executive who has seen a sale interrupted and has been able to steer their organization back towards a development project has demonstrated a rare quality: changing mandate without changing credibility.

4. How do they describe a margin gained over several years, rather than over a single financial year? For an industrialization mandate, the answer distinguishes someone who built a discipline from someone who achieved a one-off result.

5. How do they speak of the group they belong to when that group has decided to refocus? The way an executive recounts a portfolio decision of which they were the subject, without bitterness or complacency, says how they read governance.

Frequently asked questions

Which countries has Carrefour sold since the launch of its plan? Italy, sold to NewPrinces on an enterprise value of around 1 billion euros and deconsolidated as of 30 November 2025, and Romania, sold to Paval Holding on an enterprise value of 823 million euros, with closing on 30 June 2026. Both disposals form part of the strategic review launched in 2025.

What happens to Belgium, Poland and Argentina? As at 4 October 2026, no disposal has been announced in these three countries. The group indicated in February 2026 that it was keeping all strategic options open, from growth to full or partial disposal. For Argentina, the sale process was halted in February and a new chief executive officer has been in place since 6 April.

Why does a retailer refocus on a few countries? Because performance concentrates. At Carrefour, three countries carry 99% of recurring operating income for 85% of revenue. A refocusing makes it possible to concentrate investment, management attention and technological resources where value is created. It also requires deciding what to do with the rest.

How long does the disposal of a country subsidiary take? At Carrefour, around four months between the firm agreement and closing for Italy, a little over four months between the announcement of exclusive negotiations and closing for Romania. These timeframes include regulatory approvals. They assume upstream preparation, in particular on the separation of systems and functions.

Does a portfolio refocusing mean job cuts? Not necessarily. Divested perimeters pass to the buyer with their operations. The Carrefour 2030 plan targets 1 billion euros of savings a year by 2030, which, according to the press, come through purchasing, the simplification of central functions and productivity linked to artificial intelligence. The effect on employment depends on implementation, which no public source details.

Can an executive who has led a disposal go on to run a core market? Yes, and it is often an asset, but it is not automatic. A closing demonstrates the ability to hold an organization under constraint, not the ability to gain margin over several years. The board must verify the second, which is demonstrated by an operating track record, and not infer it from the first.

Key takeaways

• Carrefour has refocused its 2030 plan on three countries, France, Spain and Brazil, which account for 85% of revenue and 99% of 2025 recurring operating income.

• The portfolio now has three states: exited (Italy, Romania), pending (Belgium, Poland), retained (France, Spain, Brazil), with the moving case of Argentina, whose sale was halted in February 2026.

• Each state requires a different executive: a disposal executive, a pending-state executive, an industrialization executive.

• Recruitment is only the consequence of the portfolio decision: it is the portfolio decision that defines the mandate, not the other way round.

• A board reviewing a portfolio must monitor each perimeter separately, write down each executive's mandate and set a deadline for open options.

The Laroze Partners view

A refocusing is often summed up by its map: what stays, what goes. The map says nothing about what matters for an executive, namely the state their perimeter is in and the mandate that follows from it. A single group, in a single quarter, needs someone who closes, someone who keeps an option open, and someone who gains margin year after year. Three crafts, three temperaments, three relationships to time.

This is where recruitment finds its place: as a consequence of the portfolio decision, never as a starting point. When a board decides the fate of a perimeter, it decides at the same time what it expects of the person who leads it. The Laroze Pattern®, a method for the strategic reading of career trajectories, leadership behaviors and performance dynamics, helps us distinguish, in an executive's track record, what proves they have already held one of these three states from what merely suggests it.

The retailers that make good portfolio decisions will be those that have named the state of each perimeter before naming an executive, and that have accepted that this state may change. Strategy sets the direction. It is the executives, and the right match between a mandate and a person, that decide how fast it is reached.

Sources

Press releases and business press on the Carrefour 2030 plan (Tradingsat, Swissinfo/AFP, RetailDetail, Republik Retail, 18 February 2026) · First-half 2026 results (ABC Bourse, Option Finance, 23 and 24 July 2026) · Completion of the Romanian disposal (Option Finance, ABC Bourse, RetailDetail, 30 June 2026) · Disposal of Italy to NewPrinces (Financecommunity, Fortune Italia, 2025) · Buyout of Carrefour Brazil minority shareholders (Option Finance, 25 April 2025) · Argentina: halting of the sale process and appointment of Noël Prioux (Forbes Argentina, Mercado, Los Andes, 2026).