Wal-Mart results affected by US growth slowdown
of the consumer cutbacks prompted by the slowdown in economic
growth in its native...
The US giant retailer Wal-Mart believes it has weathered the worst of the consumer cutbacks prompted by the slowdown in economic growth in its native United States, the BBC Online reports. Wal-Mart, reporting a 17% rise in profits to $6.29bn in the year to the end of last month, admitted performance was affected by the decline in US growth. "It was a good year, but a year that was not quite up to our high expectations" president and chief executive Lee Scott said. But the firm, which runs 3,100 US stores, said the spending slide by American consumers had bottomed out. "We believe that the current slower retail environment is largely a result of declining consumer confidence" Mr Scott said. "Fortunately we do not see any indication that spending will further slow more from current levels".
