MEXICO CITY—Retailer Wal-Mart de Mexico racked up another strong
quarter of sales growth between April and June, with sales rising
9.9% from the second quarter of 2014.
Wal-Mart de Mexico, or Walmex as the unit of Wal-Mart Stores
Inc. is known, said Monday its sales in Mexico and Central America
rose 8.1% in June to 37.13 billion Mexican pesos ($2.36 billion),
bringing the total for the first half of the year to 224.71 billion
pesos, a 9.6% increase from the year-earlier period.
Same-store sales in Mexico, which only include stores that have
been open at least one year, rose 3.6% in June and were up 5.2% in
the first six months of the year.
Second-quarter sales of 113.55 billion pesos marked a 9.9%
increase from the same period of 2014, above the 9.3% gain in the
first quarter and the biggest rise in more than two years.
"We remain positive on the sales growth outlook for the company
given its commercial strategy and the recovery in employment,
remittances and consumer confidence in Mexico," Banorte bank said
in a note ahead of the sales report.
This year's jump in sales comes as Mexico's largest retailer
seeks to come back from several years of sluggish growth, including
declines in the number of customers visiting its stores. Earlier
this year, the company cut its investment plans for 2015 and is
seeking to expand its floor space by 2.4%, adding 162,000 square
meters compared with 258,000 square meters added in 2014.
Walmex, which in the past year has sold its restaurant chain and
its Mexican bank, had 2,993 stores in operation at the end of June,
2,300 of them in Mexico.
Walmex shares traded on the Mexican stock exchange closed up
1.9% at 39.08 pesos Monday ahead of the report. The company plans
to publish its second-quarter financial results on July 21.
Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com
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