Retail chain Carrefour on Thursday said the group saw its organic sales rise 4.9 percent in the second quarter of 2014 from the same period a year ago, the best growth in five years.

In France, which consumes 40 percent of the group's products, sales went up by 2.4 percent to 9.84 billion euros (13.3 billion U.S. dollars) the group's financial report showed.

In emerging markets, Europe's largest retailer reported solid organic growth of 12.1 percent thanks "to excellent performance in Brazil and Argentina," where its sales jumped by 10 percent and 44.9 percent respectively.

"Amid an unchanged consumption environment in China," Carrefour witnessed a 2.4 percent fall in organic sales in the booming economy that pulled down the group's total sales in Asian markets by 2 percent to stand at 1.54 billion euros.

In Thursday's trading session, the French retailer saw its stocks slightly down by 0.33 percent to 27.5 euros at 15:23 local time (1323 GMT) with the Paris bourse in red at 4,331 points, down by 0.86 percent. (1 euro = 1.35 U.S. dollars)