Wal-Mart Stores posted a 9.5 percent fiscal third-quarter increase for its stores, rising to $50.2 billion, up from $45.9 billion in the year-ago period.
Operating income for Wal-Mart’s stores business, including supercenters, increased 6.3 percent in the third quarter, ended Oct. 31, to $3.3 billion, compared with a year-on-year $3.1 billion. Comp-store sales climbed 2.9 percent.
In the nine months, the stores business reported sales of $149.7 billion, a 9.8 percent jump over the $136.4 billion recorded in the same time frame last year. Comp-store sales rose 3.1 percent.
Operating income for the stores in the nine months came to $10.6 billion, a 6.9 percent rise over the $9.9 billion held down in the first nine months of 2004.
Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart’s wholesale warehouse business, reported a 10.3 percent increase in third quarter sales, reaching $10 billion, up from $9.1 billion in the same quarter the prior year. Comp-store sales rose 8.1 percent. Operating income increased 11.8 percent to $342 million from a year-earlier $306 million.
In the nine months, Sam’s posted a 7.4 percent sales increase, rising to $29.1 billion from a year-over-year $27.1 billion. Comp-store sales increased 5 percent, while operating income rose 9 percent, to $1 billion from a year-ago $925 million.
Consolidated Wal-Mart sales in the third quarter jumped 10.1 percent, hitting $75.4 billion, compared with $68.5 billion in the same three months a year earlier. Total U.S. comp-store sales for the third quarter rose 3.8 percent.
Consolidated net income for the third quarter hit $2.4 billion, a 3.8 percent rise over the $2.3 billion held down in the same quarter last year.
Net income included three items in the third quarter causing an unfavorable after-tax impact of $80 million. This took in about $40 million of costs incurred as a result of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, and, in the retailer’s Wal-Mart stores, $69 million of expenses related to product warranty programs, partially offset by $29 million of other income resulting from a Visa MasterCard antitrust litigation settlement.
For the nine months, consolidated sales increased 9.9 percent, reaching $223.2 billion, up from $203 billion in the same period in 2004. Comp-store sale climbed 3.4 percent.
Consolidated net income for the nine months rose 7.6 percent to $7.6 billion, from $7.1 billion the previous year.