Lowe's Earnings Plummet in Fourth Quarter

Mooresville, N.C., February 25, 2008-- Lowe's said fourth quarter earnings declined 33.4 percent over a year ago.

The world's second largest home improvement retailer reported net earnings of $408 million for the quarter ended Feb. 1. Earnings per share declined 30 percent to $0.28 from $0.40 in the fourth quarter of 2006.

For the fiscal year ended Feb, 1, net earnings declined 9.5 percent to $2.81 billion while earnings per share declined 6.5 percent to $1.86.

Sales for the quarter declined 0.3 percent to under $10.4 billion. For the year, 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.

"Fourth quarter and fiscal year 2007 sales fell short of our plan as we faced an unprecedented decline in housing turnover, falling home prices in many areas and turbulent mortgage markets that impacted both sentiment related to home improvement purchases as well as consumers' access to capital," said CEO Robert A. Niblock.

"As we look to fiscal 2008, we know the next several quarters will be challenging on many fronts as industry sales are likely to remain soft."

During the quarter, Lowe's opened 72 new stores including two relocations. Lowe's now operates 1,534 stores in the U.S. and Canada representing 174.1 million square feet of retail selling space, a 10.9 percent increase over last year.