They must hold distributors accountable: margins nearly four times higher than industrial average before commercial negotiations

Coca-Cola, Danone, L'Oréal... the multinationals which supply mass distribution generate net margins "nearly four times higher" than the average for the French food industry, reveals a study published this Monday by the country's distributors, ahead of the opening of negotiations. These large groups posted an average net margin of 13% between 2017 and 2025, compared to 3.5% for the entire French agri-food industry between 2018 and 2024, according to the study carried out by the French firm Asterès for the Fédération du commerce et de la distribution (FCD), the employers' organization which represents large-scale distribution.

Published a few weeks before the opening of annual commercial negotiations between distributors and suppliers, this analysis aims to highlight the gap between the financial situation of multinationals in the sector and that of SMEs. “We are always presented with the industrial bloc as a rather homogeneous whole (...), but we can clearly see that it is a totally heterogeneous group,” explains Judith Jiguet, general director of the FCD, to AFP.

“Very large companies and multinationals hide behind small ones” to promote a discourse “saying ‘we are all doing badly, we cannot invest’”, she accuses. We must “confront them with their responsibilities and their strategic choices”. Groups “oriented towards shareholder remuneration rather than investment” The study also notes that between 2022 and 2025, “in the midst of an inflationary crisis”, the multinationals analyzed have returned 94% of their net profit to their shareholders.

“This means that listed multinationals, suppliers to mass distribution, are resolutely oriented towards shareholder remuneration rather than investment,” note the authors. The study focused on 33 companies out of the 53 multinationals with which distribution negotiates each year. The other 20 could not be studied due to lack of data, explains the FCD.

Every year, from December 1 to March 1, supermarkets and food suppliers conduct negotiations, sometimes brutal, which ultimately determine the prices on the shelves (excluding distributors' own brands, meats, fresh fruits and vegetables). A preparatory meeting between manufacturers and distributors is planned for the day. The FCD affirmed last week that it “will not participate (...

) as long as two fundamental requirements have not been recognized and shared by all", citing differentiated treatment for SMEs and "transparency" on the costs of agricultural raw materials. According to the FCD, multinationals weigh nearly 75% of trade negotiations in value.

Machine-translated from French