Walmart Mexico's first quarter financial results are released, sales fall to 170.8 billion pesos

According to foreign media reports, recently, SAB, the Mexican branch of Walmart, Mexico's largest retailer, reported a small increase in profits in the first quarter, with sales slightly lower than the same period last year.

The Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart Inc. unit said it earned 10.1 billion Mexican pesos ($504 million) in the January-March period. Sales slipped 0.3% to 170.8 billion pesos .

While Walmart's total sales in Mexico rose 0.5%, sales fell 2.7% in Central America, where Walmart has about a quarter of its stores. Moderate growth in Mexico was partially offset by lower sales in Central America.

Walmart's Mexican division said its first-quarter revenue fell slightly from the same period last year as overall sales softened in Central America as the economy was hit by coronavirus lockdowns.

Walmex said emergency purchases a year ago as people prepared for stay-at-home measures due to the coronavirus pandemic made it more difficult to compare with the year before because some people began to cut back on spending. Same-store sales, excluding stores opened last year, fell 0.6% in Mexico and 4% in Central America.

Walmart Mexico’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (ebitda) rose 2.2% to 19.5 billion pesos, it said.

Walmart also added 24 stores in Central America during the quarter, primarily in Mexico, marking its fastest pace of first-quarter store openings in five years, bringing the retailer's total to 3,513. Walmart had 2,654 stores in Mexico and 859 in Central America at the end of the quarter.

The pandemic has changed the way Mexicans shop. Before the quarantine, very few people shopped online. But after the quarantine, people's consumption habits changed, and more people started shopping online. In addition, most Mexican consumers are very young and proficient in mobile Internet. Compared with physical shopping, they prefer online shopping.

Although Walmart Mexico's overall sales growth has slowed down, its online business still has great development potential. Currently, Mexico's e-commerce market is growing rapidly. By 2021, its e-commerce is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23%.

Walmart

Mexico

First quarter