Casino reported a 4.4% like-for-like increase in fourth-quarter sales on Tuesday, driven by Latin America and convenience stores in France.

The French retail group's quarterly sales totaled 9.16 billion euros.

In Latin America, quarterly sales were up 12.0% on a like-for-like basis, with "an excellent performance from Assaí and Grupo Éxito", the group said in a press release.

In France, Casino says it opened 352 new stores in convenience formats during the quarter, giving a total of 879 new stores over the year, "surpassing the initial target of 800 openings by 2022".

For the year 2022, the group had previously said it was aiming for "a high level of profitability and improved cash flow generation".

Casino is due to present the rest of its annual results on March 10. (Written by Kate Entringer, edited by Matthieu Protard)