Carrefour profit beats estimates in first half, firm maintains outlook

Carrefour SA, France's largest retailer, reported higher first-half earnings and maintained its full-year outlook as European revenue held up despite bad weather.

Recurring operating income rose 5.3 percent at constant exchange rates to 706 million euros ($781 million), the eighth straight increase, Boulogne-Billancourt-based Carrefour said on Thursday in a statement. Analysts predicted 683.5 million euros, the average of six estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

"The dynamic of profitable growth has extended into an eighth half," Chief Financial Officer Pierre-Jean Sivignon said during a conference call. "Our results are solid in a particularly atypical social, political, economic or climatic environment in several countries which we operate in."