Home Depot behind Lowe’s

Home Depot, number one in the USA and the world, announces profit growth of 8.3 per cent to US $ 1.3 bn for the second quarter 2003 over the same period last year. Sales rose by 10.5 per cent to US $ 18.0 bn; growth amounted to 2.2 per cent in comparable terms. Thirty-nine new stores were inaugurated in the second quarter, which increased the number of outlets to a total of 1 607; 1 428 of these were Home Depots in the USA, 96 in Canada and 15 in Mexico. In this quarter Home Depot has again failed to even come close to achieving the sales and profit increases of Lowe’s, the industry’s number two. Lowe’s can point to a like-for-like sales increase of 6.9 per cent and net profit up by 27.8 per cent.