The US retail giant Walmart looks to the new financial year with little optimism.
Bentonville – Without exchange rate effects, sales should increase by 2.5 to 3 percent – after an increase of 7.4 percent in the previous year to around 615 billion dollars (575.5 billion euros), the Arkansas group announced on Tuesday . However, the momentum is likely to slow down over the course of the year.
In day-to-day business, however, things should go uphill again after court costs and a billion-dollar settlement had caused operating profit to collapse. Walmart accepted the settlement to settle proceedings for alleged complicity in the opioid crisis in the United States. At EUR 3.3 billion, this was even higher than previously communicated.
The operating profit for the 2024 financial year, which has been running since February, should increase by around three percent at constant exchange rates, it said. Walmart had seen a decline of more than a fifth to $ 20.4 billion last year. The bottom line is that the group earned just under $11.7 billion, 14.6 percent less. (dpa)
