Earnings down

Lowe’s, the second-largest home improvement chain in the USA, achieved total sales of US $ 14.5 bn (€ 962.2 mio) in the second quarter of 2008. This amounts to an increase of 2.4 per cent over the same period last year (-5.3 per cent like-for-like). The company recorded a decline of 7.9 per cent to US $ 938 mio (€ 640 mio) when it came to net earnings. As the group explained, the stores were able to benefit from a recovering economic situation in terms of their private customers, but recorded marked losses when it came to major projects. In the first six months of 2008 Lowe’s achieved sales of US $ 26.5 bn (€ 18.1 bn), which amounts to growth of 0.7 per cent (-6.7 per cent like-for-like). Net earnings of US $ 1.54 bn (€ 1.05 bn) were down by 12.1 per cent.