Recently, it was announced that two giant French retailers,Carrefour SAandPromodes SA, would merge. A headline in the Wall Street Journal blared, "French Retailers Create New Wal-Mart Rival." WhileWal-Mart's total sales would still exceed those of the combined company, Wal-Mart's international sales are far less than those of the combined company. This is a serious concern for Wal-Mart, since its primary opportunity for future growth lies outside of the United States.

Below are basic financial data for the combined corporation (in euros) and Wal-Mart (in U.S. dollars). Even though their results are presented in different currencies, by employing ratios we can make some basic comparisons.

Carrefour

(in millions) Wal-Mart

(in millions)

Sales revenue 70,486 $256,329

Cost of goods sold 54,630 198,747

Net income 1,738 9,054

Total assets 39,063 104,912

Current assets 14,521 34,421

Current liabilities 13,660 37,418

Total liabilities 29,434 61,289

discuss their relative abilities to control cost of goods sold based on calculated gross profit?

discuss the companies' relative profitability based on calculated profit margin?

and discuss their relative liquidity and solvency based on current ratio and debt to asset ratio?