Page 48 - HW June 2019

global eyes
Lowe’s assault on
batteries
Lowe’s Canada has been named a 2018 Leader in Sustainability by Call2Recycle Canada, the country’s national consumer battery collection and recycling programme.
Lowe’s Canada’s corporate and affiliated dealer network collected over 100,000kg of batteries, contributing
to the diversion of 2.7 million kg of batteries from Canadian landfills.
RONA, Reno-Depot and Lowe’s stores also offer recovery programs for fluorescent light bulbs and paint.
www.lowescanada.ca
Official: Ace is an
ace place to work
In April, Ace Hardware was named one of America’s Best Employers in 2019 by Forbes.
Forbes ranked Ace Hardware at #193, up from the company’s spot at #330 in the 2018 report.
The Forbes list ranks the 500 best large employers in the United States, based on anonymous surveys of employees working at businesses with over 1,000 employees.
To compile the report, Statista surveyed 50,000 Americans on whether they would recommend their employer to others, as well as nominating organisations in industries outside their own.
In addition to this ranking, Ace Hardware was recognized as one of the 2018 “Best & Brightest Companies to Work For in the Nation” by the National Association of Business Resources and, for the second consecutive year, was also ranked among the top 10 employers
for the Chicagoland area in The Chicago Tribune’s 2018 Top Workplace list.
Sounds like Mitre 10’s Duncan McGhie will enjoy working for the Oakbrook, Illinois co-op then.
www.acehardware.com
Rain dampens play in the US DIY market
COMMENTATORS WERE WATCHING the latest numbers The Home Depot and Lowe’s closely and didn’t hold back when the two big US players showed some underperformance against expectations.
February dampens the Depot’s quarter
– Having already questioned whether the US home improvement market wasn’t slowing, the pundits called out The Home Depot’s Q1 FY2019 comparables for the US which, at 3%, were down again (–0.7%) on an already slightly soft Q4.
Still, the world’s largest home improvement retailer met other expectations with sales of US$26.4 billion (+5.7%) and net earnings of US$2.5 billion (US$2.27 per diluted share), compared with net earnings of US$2.4 billion (+9.1% and US$2.08 per diluted share), in Q1 FY2018.
Interesting to note also The Home Depot’s digital performance in Q1: alongside 23% online growth, some 54% of online orders were picked up in-store.
Slightly defensive in tone, Craig Menear, Chairman, CEO and President, says of the update: “We were pleased with the underlying performance of the core business despite unfavourable weather
in February and significant deflation in lumber prices compared to a year ago.
“Looking ahead, we remain excited about the momentum we are seeing
with our strategic investments. As a result of these initiatives, and the current macroeconomic and housing backdrop,
today we are reaffirming our sales and earnings guidance for fiscal 2019.”
With an outlook labelled by some commentators as “weaker than anticipated”, the Home Depot expects FY2019 sales to be +3.3%, with comparables +5% and diluted earnings per share +3.1%.
www.homedepot.com
Pressures converge in North Carolina
– The following day (22 May), Lowe’s released its Q1 numbers. While
the North Carolina-headquartered operation’s US comparable sales growth beat the big orange boxes’, it still saw fit to slightly downgrade its profit expectations for the full year.
Lowe’s Q1 sales were +2.2% at $17.7 billion, comps for the US were +4.2%.
As well as blaming February’s inclement weather, Marvin Ellison, Lowe’s President and CEO, says the
Q1 numbers reflect “the unanticipated impact of the convergence of cost pressure, significant transition in our merchandising organization” and that “ineffective legacy pricing tools and processes led to gross margin contraction in the quarter which impacted earnings.”
With the results of Lowe’s transformative measures largely still to be seen, Lowe’s cut its full-year adjusted earnings-per-share outlook for FY2019 and forecast total sales to be +2% and comparable sales +3%.
www.lowes.com
46 NZHJ | JUNE 2019
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