Lowes Home Improvement Warehouse Bel Air MD

Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse (NYSE: LOW) is a US-based chain of retail home improvement and appliance stores. With fiscal year 2007 sales of $48.3 billion, Lowe's Companies, Inc. is a FORTUNE® 50 company that serves approximately 14 million customers a week at more than 1,525 home improvement stores in the United States and Canada. Founded in 1946 and based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe's is the second-largest home improvement retailer in the world. It is the 14th-largest retailer in the world and the 8th-largest retailer in the United States.

Lowe’s is currently the 19th-largest employer in the United States with more than 210,000 employees. In 2006 alone, Lowe’s opened 155 new stores, added more than 25,000 employees, and announced plans to expand into Canada in 2007 and Mexico in 2009.

Lowe’s has many programs to help the communities in which its stores are located. It is a partner of Habitat for Humanity® International and an underwriter of Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build® program. It is also a National Partner of American Red Cross, and contributed more than $15 million contributed by Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation in 2006.

Lowe’s also has many environment-friendly policies and has been an ENERGY STAR® partner for five consecutive years. It ranks 20th among Fortune 500 companies purchasing green power. For two consecutive years, Lowe’s donated $1 million to The Nature Conservancy for projects dedicated to land conservation. In 2000 the company enacted an industry-leading wood policy. Lowe’s is also a SmartWay® Transport Partner.

Prior to 2006, the Lowe's tagline was "Improving Home Improvement." In 2006, Lowe's adopted the new slogan "Let's Build Something Together."

Lowe's Companies, Inc. reported net earnings of $408 million for the quarter ended February 1, 2008, a 33.4 percent decline over the same period a year ago. Diluted earnings per share declined 30.0 percent to $0.28 from $0.40 in the fourth quarter of 2006. For the fiscal year ended February 1, 2008, net earnings declined 9.5 percent to $2.81 billion while diluted earnings per share declined 6.5 percent to $1.86.

Sales for the quarter declined 0.3 percent to just under $10.4 billion. For the fiscal year ended February 1, 2008, sales increased 2.9 percent to $48.3 billion. Comparable store sales declined 7.6 percent for the fourth quarter and 5.1 percent for fiscal 2007. Lowe’s attributed the decline in sales to the decline in housing turnover, falling home prices in many areas and turbulent mortgage markets that they believe impacted both sentiment related to home improvement purchases as well as consumers' access to capital.

During the quarter ending February 1, 2008, Lowe's opened 72 new stores including two relocations. As of February 1, 2008, Lowe's operated 1,534 stores in the United States and Canada representing 174.1 million square feet of retail selling space, a 10.9 percent increase over last year.

In the first quarter of 2008 Lowe’s expects to open approximately 21 new stores reflecting square footage growth of approximately 11 percent. Total sales are expected to increase approximately 2 percent, but the company expects comparable store sales to decline 5 to 7 percent.

In the fiscal year 2008 the company expects to open approximately 120 stores in 2008 reflecting total square footage growth of approximately 8 percent. Total sales are expected to increase approximately 3 percent, but the company expects comparable store sales to decline 5 to 6 percent.

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