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By Heather McLean, 28 August 2001 14:49

NEWS France Telecom is set to shut around 100 of its recently opened high-street outlets by 2004 leaving 11,000 jobs at risk. One of the smaller French unions, CFTC, said France Telecom had told unions that around half of its 650 shops were not making enough money. A spokesperson from the majority state-owned telco stated that the relocation of less successful stores to busier areas was under discussion. One hundred outlets are expected to be closed and another 100 will be relocated, according to the CFTC union. Nigel Deighton, a Gartner analyst based in Paris, said: "The consumer retail outlets constitute impossibly small business for France Telecom. It's unlikely to make a huge amount of profit from them, so the key is to get rid of the unprofitable ones." A source from inside a major investment bank said today that France Telecom had been given a sell recommendation. The source said: "It seems as though the recent opening then closing of stores doesn't seem particularly well thought out, but it's not such a big issue for France Telecom. It's just seeking to gain efficiencies, as is every other European telco." Around 45,000 staff are employed in the 650 stores, many of which have appeared in shopping areas across France over the last few months as part of the group's marketing effort to get closer to its customers.