The US shopping giant Walmart is cautious about the new financial year (until the end of January). The largest US retailer said on Tuesday in Bentonville that sales should increase by 2.5 to 3 percent without exchange rate effects after an increase of 7.4 percent in the previous year to around 615 billion US dollars (575.5 billion euros). (US state of Arkansas) with. However, the momentum is likely to slow down over the course of the year.
In the operational business, however, things should go uphill again after court costs and a billion-dollar settlement had caused the 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. Analysts had expected a better value. The bottom line is that the group earned just under $11.7 billion, 14.6 percent less. (dpa)