Wal-Mart?s Seiyu Improves 1Q Loss

Seiyu Ltd., the Japanese affiliate of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., posted a sharply lower loss for the first quarter of 2004, helped by cost-cutting and a gradual sales recovery.

Seiyu, which is 37.8 percent owned by Bentonville-based Wal-Mart, the world’s largest company by revenue, posted a net loss of $43.28 million for the quarter, which was 10 percent of the $432.8 million loss it had in the same period last year.

Seiyu posted its second annual net loss in 2003, hurt by weak personal consumption and competition in addition to problems adapting Wal-Mart’s supply management systems and “Every Day Low Price” strategy to the Japanese market.

Seiyu, which operates about 400 stores across Japan, said the introduction of Wal-Mart systems was starting to pay off, and it saw no need to revise its forecast for a return to the black in 2004/05 with a net profit of 500 million yen.