Wal Mart profits fail to meet expectations
Profits are up at Wal-Mart.
Profits are up at Wal-Mart.
The share price of supermarket chain Wal-Mart is down today (August 15th) after the company revealed its latest financial results.
Although it recorded a 1.3 per cent rise in its profits during the second quarter of the year, this was below the expectations of analysts.
Wal-Mart, which owns UK chain Asda, confirmed that it made $4.1 billion in the three months to July 2013, though same-store sales fell 0.3 per cent.
Mike Duke, Wal-Mart's president and chief executive officer, explained the firm has been facing a challenging retail environment in the last few months.
"I'm encouraged by our position to execute in the second half of the year, particularly with the steps we're taking to improve performance," he said.
Stocks in the company are nearly two per cent down today on the back of the profits news.
At 16:28 BST, the share price of the firm was 1.86 per cent lower than at the opening of the Nasdaq this morning.
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