French supermarket giant's shares plunge over 13% after warning ‘unprecedented’ unrest will hit business

Shares of French supermarket giant Carrefour plunged over 13% on Wednesday after the company cut its full-year profit forecast, citing "an unprecedented situation in France."

"In light of the worsening social and security situation, the Group considers that consumption trends and operating conditions in France are facing a deterioration," the company said in its third-quarter earnings report published late Tuesday.

Over the past few days, French cities have been thrown into chaos as hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets calling for more spending on public services and expressing discontent over high costs of living. While most protesters were peaceful, over the weekend some looted and vandalized shops, set fire to city halls and attacked police officers.

Carrefour now expects operating margin growth of just 0 to 15 basis points, down from a previous expectation of a rise of 25 basis points. It also forecasts flat to slightly higher adjusted earnings per share, compared with earlier expectations for high-single-digit growth, and a slight decline in free cash flow, reversing its previous forecast for modest growth.

The supermarket giant warned that unprecedented unrest in France is disrupting store operations and weighing on consumer spending, already strained by rising energy costs, ahead of the crucial year-end shopping season.

Shares were last seen down 13.6%, sitting firmly at the bottom of the Stoxx 600 index.

Carrefour shares are now up about 2.5% year-to-date, still outperforming the French blue-chip index CAC 40 , which is down nearly 4% over the same period.

The CAC 40 rose 0.2% early Wednesday, helped by soaring shares of eyewear maker EssilorLuxottica following a better-than-expected third-quarter earnings report.

Apart from slashing its 2026 forecast, Carrefour reported third-quarter like-for-like sales growth at constant exchange rates of 2.3%, in line with FactSet expectations and slightly above growth during the first six months of the year.

France accounted for 11.9 billion euros ($13.4 billion) in sales, just over half of the company's total revenues. Sales grew 1.2% in France in the third quarter.