Analyzing Inventory for Two Retail Grocery Companies Carrefour Group (headquartered in BoulogneBillancourt, France) and Tesco PLC (headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, UK) compete headtohead in the grocery space in the UK, Ireland, Central Europe, and North Africa. The following information comes from their 2018 annual reports.

	Carrefour Group in	Tesco PLC in
	millions	millions
	2018	2017	2018	2017
Sales	98,800	101,810	74,738	72,692
Cost of sales	60,850	62,311	54,141	53,015
Gross profit	37,950	39,499	20,597	19,677
Inventory	7,976	8,697	2,942	2,991
Total assets	47,378	47,813	44,862	45,853

Required a. Calculate gross profit margin for each year for both companies. Note: Round percentage to one decimal place (for example, enter 6.7% for 6.6555%).

	Carrefour Group	Tesco PLC
	2018	2017	2018	2017
Gross profit margin (%)	Answer	Answer	Answer	Answer

b. Determine the commonsize inventory for each year for both companies. Note: Round percentage to one decimal place (for example, enter 6.7% for 6.6555%).

	Carrefour Group	Tesco PLC
	2018	2017	2018	2017
Common-size inventory	Answer	Answer	Answer	Answer

c. Compute inventory turnover and days average inventory outstanding for 2018. Note: Do not round until your final answer; round your final answer to one decimal place (for example, enter 6.8 for 6.77555).

	Carrefour Group		Tesco PLC
Inventory turnover	Answer	times	Answer	times
Average inventory days	Answer	days	Answer	days

d. Based on the metrics in parts a, b, and c, answer the following questions. Which company holds less inventory proportionately?

Carrefour Group or Tesco PLC Which company earns a higher gross profit margin?

Carrefour Group or Tesco PLC Which company turns its inventory more quickly?

Carrefour Group or Tesco PLC Which company is more efficient with its inventory?

Carrefour Group or Tesco PLC