Mexico City - Retailer Wal-Mart de Mexico SAB said Tuesday it plans to increase its capital expenditures by a fifth this year, with investments in opening and remodeling stores and bolstering the firm's logistics and online commerce.
The unit of Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., also known as Walmex, said it would invest 17 billion Mexican pesos ($863 million) this year, 19% more than in 2016.
Around 38% of the investment will be in store remodeling and maintenance, and 31% will be in new stores, which the company expects will contribute between 2 and 2.2 percentage points of sales growth.
The retailer, Mexico's largest in terms of sales, said it has earmarked 13 percent of the total for logistics, about 10% to further develop its e-commerce business and the remaining 8% for infrastructure to handle perishables.
In December, Walmex said it expects to invest $1.3 billion in logistics, in addition to what it spends on store expansions, much of that over the next three years.
Walmex reiterated its 10-year plan of doubling annual sales between 2014 and 2024. Its sales grew 12% last year to around $27 billion.
At the end of February, Walmex operated 3,029 stores, including 735 in Central America.
Original article