Earthquake-Related Purchases Lift Wal-Mart de Mexico Sales
October 05 2017 - 5:11PM
Dow Jones News
By Anthony Harrup
MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart de Mexico
SAB, reported double-digit sales growth in September as emergency
purchases following a major earthquake offset the impact of
temporary store closures.
Walmex, as the unit of Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores
Inc. is known, said same-store sales in Mexico grew 10.2% last
month, and total sales including stores opened in the past year
rose 12%. There was also a positive calendar effect this year with
one additional Saturday in September.
Overall sales including operations in Central America rose 10.3%
from September 2016 to 44.2 billion Mexican pesos ($2.4 billion),
and were up 8.9% for the first nine months of the year.
A 7.1-magnitude earthquake on Sept. 19 killed 369 people in
Mexico City and central states. In the capital, 38 buildings
collapsed and thousands were badly damaged. The earthquake led to
the temporary closure of 94 Walmart stores, 55 of which reopened
the next day and more than 30 two days later.
Walmex said the closures were more than offset by people rushing
to buy supplies to stock up or to donate to those affected by the
quake. It estimated that those purchases added about 1 percentage
point to same-store sales growth in September.
The company said it donated 40 million pesos ($2.2 million) to
help people affected by the earthquake, and distributed more than
300 tons of basic items, including first-aid supplies, via Mexican
armed forces.
Walmex plans to report its third-quarter financial results on
Oct. 19.
Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 05, 2017 17:56 ET (21:56 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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