BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores here said it had record sales and earnings for the year and fourth quarter ended Jan. 31.
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For the 13-week quarter, sales increased 15% to $40.8 billion and comparable-store sales rose 8.7%, while net income was up 21.1% to $1.6 billion.
The company said comparable-store sales rose 8.9% at Wal-Mart Stores for the year and 8.2% for the quarter, while comps at Sam's Club rose 9.3% for the year and 10.3% for the quarter.
Breaking down sales by operating segment, the company said sales at Wal-Mart Stores, including supercenters, rose 14% for the year to $95.4 billion; 11% at Sam's Club to $22.9 billion; 19% at McLane (a wholesale subsidiary) to $7.1 billion; and 63% in the international segment to $12.2 billion.
At year's end, the company operated 1,869 Wal-Mart stores, 564 supercenters and 451 Sam's Clubs in the United States, plus 416 stores in Mexico, 153 stores in Canada, 95 in Germany, 15 in Puerto Rico, 14 in Brazil and 13 in Argentina, plus five stores in China and four in Korea under joint-venture agreements.
During the year, Wal-Mart said, it opened 37 discount stores, 123 supercenters (including 88 discount-store replacements), eight Sam's Clubs, two regional distribution centers and one food-distribution center; it also said it opened or acquired 114 international units (74 in Germany, 14 in Mexico, nine in Canada, six in Brazil, four in Argentina, four in Korea, two in China and one in Puerto Rico).
