So What Else is New?

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Bentonville, Ark.), the world's largest retailer, got larger in 2000. The company reported net income, for the quarter ended Jan. 31, 2001, reached an all-time high of $2 billion, up 4.5 percent from the same quarter a year earlier. Comp sales were up 3.1 percent, 3 percent for Wal-Mart stores and 3.3 percent for Sam's Clubs. Food sales rose 32 percent.

For the year ended Jan. 31, 2001, net sales were up 15.9 percent over 2000, reaching $191.3 billion. Net income increased 17.1 percent, to a record $6.3 billion. During the year, Wal-Mart opened 41 discount stores, closed two, and expanded or relocated one; opened 167 Supercenters (including 104 discount store replacements); opened 12 Neighborhood Markets; opened 13 new Sam's Clubs, and relocated four; and opened or acquired 77 international units: 39 in Mexico, 20 in Canada, six in Brazil, five in the United Kingdom, five in China, and one each in Argentina and Korea.

However, Lee Scott, president and ceo, acknowledged that “it was a good year but a year that was not quite up to our high expectations.” In fact, Wal-Mart's 4.5 percent profits rise in the fourth quarter was its smallest quarterly gain in five years. “In a difficult economic environment,” said Scott, “we will spend almost $9 billion in capital expenditures and add approximately 8 percent to our retail square footage.”