Wal-Mart May Be Planning a British Excursion

Wal-Mart (WMT) may soon enter a new battle of Britain.

Less than four years after jumping into the British market with its purchase of supermarket chain Asda, Wal-Mart is mulling an expansion of its British empire, setting its sites on Asda-rival Safeway U.K. A deal is far from certain, but Safeway, which is not affiliated with the U.S. supermarket chain of the same name, could offer Wal-Mart added revenues and help shore up its international operations.

"Europe has not been a home run" for Wal-Mart, notes Craig Johnson, chief executive officer of retail consultancy Customer Growth Partners. "They really need to goose up that thing."

No one is suggesting that a failure to acquire Safeway would mean the end of the world for Wal-Mart. Far from it. Even without Safeway, the company's international sales grew by about 10.5% in its 2002 fiscal year compared with its previous fiscal year. In the first nine months of its 2003 fiscal year, Wal-Mart's international sales grew by 16%.

But the international sales have been somewhat disappointing. The company has struggled to establish itself in Germany. Meanwhile, in fiscal year 2002, growth of its international sales trailed that of its domestic stores, even though the growth of the company's international store base far outpaced that of its domestic stores.

With the company trading at nearly 23 times its projected 2004 earnings -- compared to 13 times future earnings for rival Target (TGT) -- investors are clearly expecting the company to continue its rapid growth. That will likely have to come from outside the U.S. The company already operates more than 3,300 outlets domestically, including its discount stores, supercenters and wholesale clubs, and could soon reach a saturation point. Meanwhile, its same-store sales, which measure results at outlets open for more than one year, have begun to slow in recent months.