Lowe's sales off 3% in third quarter
Home improvements retailer anticipates flat fourth quarter
-- Home Accents Today, 11/16/2009 8:42:00 AM
Lowe's Companies, Inc. today reported sales of $11.4 billion for the quarter ended Oct. 30, 2009, down 3% 
from $11.7 billion in the third quarter of 2008. Comparable store sales for the third quarter declined 7.5%. For the nine months ended Oct. 30, 2009, sales declined 3.1% to $37.1 billion. Comparable store sales fell 8% in the first nine months of 2009. During the quarter, Lowe's opened 12 stores and closed one.
"The broad-based pressures of the macro environment are clearly evident in our sales as consumers continue to delay large purchases until they feel better about the economic outlook," said Robert A. Niblock, Lowe's chairman and CEO. "While consumer spending remained weak, we were pleased with our sequential improvement in comparable store sales from the second quarter and continued evidence of solid market share gains.
Niblock said the company is encouraged by signs of improved performance in hard-hit housing markets such as California, Florida and areas of the desert Southwest.
In the fourth quarter, the company expects total sales to be essentially flat, and anticipates a comparable store sales decline of somewhere between 2% to 6%. The company plans to open approximately 13 new stores.
As of Oct. 30, 2009, Lowe's operated 1,699 stores in the U.S. and Canada representing 191.9 million square feet of retail selling space, a 4.9% increase over last year.
The company had 2008 fiscal year sales of $48.2 billion and holds the number three position on Home Accents Today’s list of the Top 50 Home Accent Retailers by sales volume.
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