Lowe’s Reports Q3 Financials; Plans to Exit Mexico

In its third-quarter financial results, big-box home improvement retailer Lowe’s reported net earnings of $629 million. The company also announced plans to “exit its Mexico retail operations,” according to a press release.

In the second-quarter of 2018, the company reported net earnings of $1.5 billion. In the third-quarter of 2017, Lowe’s net earnings totaled $872 million. Year over year, the company’s third-quarter net earnings are down more than 27 percent.

Overall, sales for the third quarter were $17.4 billion, which represented a 3.8 percent increase over the same period in 2017. Comparable store sales increased 1.5 percent.

“Management has substantially completed its strategic reassessment of the business and identified actions to drive focus on its core home improvement business and improve profitability. The company intends to exit its Mexico retail operations and is exploring strategic alternatives,” the company states in the press release.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Lowe’s currently operates 13 locations in Mexico.

Marvin R. Ellison, Lowe’s president and CEO, said the company intended to focus on core business initiatives in this quarter.

“Our top priority in the third quarter was positioning Lowe’s for long-term success by identifying underperforming or non-core businesses and stores for divestiture,” Ellison said.  “With our strategic reassessment substantially completed, we can now intensify our focus on the core retail business.

Ellison said this quarter had seen stronger in-store and online sales, but the company still faced challenges.

“During the quarter, the favorable macroeconomic environment, combined with great values, drove traffic to our stores and website,” Ellison said.  “However, continued challenges with inventory out of stocks, poor reset execution, and assortment concerns in certain categories pressured our ability to turn those visits into transactions. Rather than chase short-term solutions to these problems, we are redesigning processes and systems to deliver sustainable improvement, and expect to see positive trends as we enter 2019.”