July 30 (Reuters) - French supermarket group Casino on Tuesday posted a drop in first-half core earnings, dragged down by ongoing restructuring, including the sale of hypermarkets and supermarkets, Spins Queen closures and conversions to franchises.

WHY IT´S IMPORTANT

France's seventh-largest supermarket group by market share, was brought to the verge of default after years of debt-fuelled acquisitions and a declining market share.

Casino has been attempting a turnaround through job cuts, disposals of stores and other real estate and an overhaul of its top brass. KEY QUOTES

"To improve our economic performance, we have begun streamlining our store network: closing unprofitable stores, converting integrated sites to franchises, carefully selecting our new franchise partners and opening new stores with high potential," recently appointed CEO Philippe Palazzi said in a statement. CONTEXT

In late March, Casino completed its financial restructuring and a new leadership team was appointed by a consortium led by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, ending the 30-year reign of the company's owner, Jean-Charles Naouri. BY THE NUMBERS (Key data points)

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were 255 million euros ($275.5 million) in the six months to the end of June, down 24% from the same period last year.

Half-year net sales dropped by 3.5% to 4.2 billion euros.

The company further reduced its net debt which stood at 1 billion euros at end of June compared with 1.6 billion euros at end of March 2024 and 6.2 billion euros at the end of 2023.

It posted free cash outflow before financial expenses of 413 million euros compared to an outflow of 735 million a year ago ($1 = 0.9258 euros) (Reporting by Michal Aleksandrowicz in Gdansk; Editing by Conor Humphries)

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