US-based Walmart, the world’s largest supermarket group, achieved record sales in the last year of the corona, aided by consumer hammering during the pandemic.
For this year, Walmart is a bit more cautious about sales. On Wall Street, the Walmart stock seems to open with a loss on Thursday.
In the financial year, sales ended at the end of January amounted to more than 559 billion dollars, which is more than 35 billion dollars more than a year earlier. In addition, Walmart’s online sales increased by 76 percent because the virus outbreak meant that groceries were more often ordered online.
The retail giant’s net profit was lower than a year earlier, at $ 13.5 billion. This was mainly due to higher costs related to, for example, security measures for personnel against corona, bonuses, higher wages and higher spending on online sales.
Walmart also announced that many US workers’ wages would be further increased to an average of more than $ 15 an hour from the current $ 14. The company employs 1.5 million people in the United States.
Of these, 425,000 are now eligible for a pay rise. Besides, substantial investments will be made in distribution and automation.