Wal-Mart lowers sales growth estimate

Wal-Mart lowers sales growth estimate
By Jonathan Birchall in New York
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
Published: October 4 2006 15:34 | Last updated: October 4 2006 15:34


Wal-Mart, the largest US retailer, said on Wednesday it had miscalculated its estimate of September same-store sales growth, in an embarrassing error for a company that prides itself on its effective data handling.

In a statement, Wal-Mart said it was revising its September sales growth estimate for US stores open at least a year downwards to 1.3 per cent, from the 1.8 per cent estimate released on Saturday.

The company said that the correction was due to approximately 235 Wal-Mart stores and Sam’s Club warehouse stores being “incorrectly coded for the calculation of the comparable sales estimate during the five-week reporting period”.

The retailer had originally forecast comparable sales growth of between 1 and 3 per cent for the month.

When Wal-Mart released its original sales estimate on Saturday, it noted that the comparatively sluggish performance in September reflected a difficult comparison with the previous year, when sales where supported by shoppers in the southern states stocking up ahead of Hurricane Katrina.

The news of the downwards revision weighed on retail shares in New York, while Wal-Mart’s shares fell 2 per cent to $48.40 in early trading.

Wal-Mart will publish its official sales figures for September on Thursday, together with other leading US retail chains.