Carrefour's denial came after a French newspaper reported
the company's main shareholders had resolved to get rid of Olofsson.
A source close to the situation told Reuters that the
search for a successor was on and that experienced retail executive Georges
Plassat had been offered Oloffson's job but turned down the proposal earlier
this month.
"He (Plassat) was offered the job and he said 'no'.
This was in November," the source said, adding: "There is still no
candidate to succeed Olofsson at this time."
Pressure has been building on Olofsson after repeated
profit warnings, management defections and strategic U-turns over the past
year.
Reuters reported earlier this month that the 59-year-old
Swede was on borrowed time and the group's top shareholder Blue Capital, an
alliance between France's richest man Bernard Arnault and US private equity
colony Capital, might get rid of him soon, particularly if he failed to deliver
on his ambitious project to revamp the group's European hypermarkets.
Olofsson has promised an update on the hypermarket plan
early next year, probably alongside fourth quarter sales figures on Jan. 12 or
annual results in February or March.
"Following recurring rumors about the potential
replacement of Carrefour's CEO, the board of directors of the company formally
denies all information published in the press on that subject," Carrefour
said in a statement on Friday.
It issued the statement after Le Figaro reported that
Colony Capital and Groupe Arnault had resolved to get rid of Olofsson and saw
Georges Plassat as a possible successor.
Colony Capital, Groupe Arnault and Plassat could not be
immediately reached for comment.
Carrefour's denial sent the group's shares into negative
territory after a positive start.
By 0949 GMT, Carrefour shares were off 0.26 percent,
slightly outperforming their European sector index, which was off 0.62
percent.
Plassat is a former boss of French rival Casino who has
also worked at Carrefour's Spanish business and more recently led a turnaround
of shoe and clothing group Vivarte under private equity ownership.
Most analysts say Carrefour needs a genuine retailer to
turn it around and restore employee morale and investor confidence.
Analysts have said that former finance chief and emerging
market boss Pierre Bouchut would also be a strong candidate for the job, along
with the head of Europe, Thomas Huebner.
"We would consider Georges Plassat to be a suitable
CEO," Nomura analysts have said, noting his experience of the food retail
sector, his track record in restructuring, his knowledge of non-food retailing
that could help Carrefour with a problem area, and his experience working with
majority shareholders.
"(However), we think it will take time to improve
Carrefour's performance and to convince investors to believe in another recovery
story," they added.
