| | |  Business News | February 2009 
Wal-Mart de Mexico Aims to Open 252 Stores in 2009
 Ken Parks - Dow Jones
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Mexico City - Mexico's largest retailer, Wal-Mart de Mexico SAB (WMMVY), said Thursday it plans to invest 11.8 billion pesos ($807.7 million) to open 252 new stores this year as the company expands into new cities.
"Last year we opened 182 stores and we have a presence in 224 cities. Even so, there are 147 cities in which we don't have a presence," said Eduardo Solorzano, the company's chief executive, during a conference call with analysts.
The expansion will also create 14,500 new jobs directly and 25,000 indirectly, Solorzano said.
Walmex, as the unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) is called, operated 1,204 stores and restaurants at the end of last year.
The company's sales grew 11% last year to a record MXN244.92 billion, while net profit rose 5% to MXN14.67 billion.
"In the short term we are going to focus on increasing client traffic in our stores through prices. We are going to improve our prices," Solorzano said.
Walmex's investment plan aims to increase floor space by 10%, down from a 12% expansion in 2008, and comes amid a sharp slowdown in consumption and expectations that the economy will be in recession this year.
At a press conference, Solorzano said the economic outlook is complicated from a number of angles, but that "sooner or later, economic growth will return."
Of the 252 stores, 225 will be in lower-income formats su
Walmex's V shares fell 0.7% to close at MXN29.30 Thursday on the Mexican Stock Exchange.
Chief Financial Officer Rafael Matute said the company will ask shareholders in March to approve a share-buyback program for MXN8 billion and a cash dividend equivalent to 35% of last year's net profit.
ken.parks(at)dowjones.com
(Anthony Harrup contributed to this article.) |
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