The conciliators of the supermarket chain Groupe Casino have requested interested parties to submit revised offers to rescue the company on 14 July 2023.

According to Groupe Casino, this will enable it to reach an agreement in principle with the main creditors on the restructuring of the group's financial debt before 27 July.

Late last month, the supermarket chain revealed that it needs at least €900m ($982m) of equity contribution to carry out its restructuring plan.

The company will assess the offers with regard to the unconditional nature of the equity commitments and the level of liquidity available to the group after restructuring.

In a statement, Groupe Casino said: "The revised offers received will be reviewed by the ad hoc committee of the Board of Directors and then presented to the group's creditors, under the aegis of the conciliators and the French government Interministerial Committee for Industrial Restructuring (CIRI), on Monday, 17 July 2023. The Casino Board of Directors will convene after this meeting."

In relation to the conciliation procedure, the company also provided its estimated second quarter (Q2) fiscal 2023 (FY23) French sales and the first half of 2023 French post-lease earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).

Groupe Casino expects sales for Paris and convenience brands to grow by +2.6% on a like-for-like (LFL) basis in Q2 FY23.

The retailer also expects hypermarket and supermarket sales to decline by -17% and -14%, respectively, on an LFL basis due to price cuts.

During the same period, Cdiscount sales are expected to drop -22% while gross merchandise value (GMV) is estimated to be down -13%.

Due to lower sales and price cuts in hyper- and supermarkets, the company expects the first half of 2023 French post-lease earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to be between -€165m and -€175m, which compares with €191m in the same period a year ago.

Groupe Casino started court-backed negotiations with its creditors in May this year to conduct the discussions within a legal framework.

In June of this year, the company received a preliminary letter of intent from a group of investors to help strengthen its capital position.