Lowes Home Improvement History

As we begin I feel that we need to look at the History of one of the top two home improvement stores in the world. Like so many companies that have grown to be known around the world lowes is not much different. The story of a sleeping giant began in the small town of North Wilkesboro, North Caroline back in 1921 under the name of Lowe’s North Wilkesboro Hardware L.S Lowe run the store until his death at which time the store was taken over by his son James Lowe and his brother in-law Carl Buchan their owner ship would be put on hold due to World War II with both of them serving in the Army it was during this time that the Mother and sister run the Store. Buchan was wounded and discharged from the Army due to his injuries in 1943 and returned

In 2016, Lowes and the Lowes Charitable and Educational Foundation donated approximately 38 million to schools and community organizations in the United States, Canada and Mexico their commitment to improving educational opportunities is best exemplified by their signature education grant program, Lowes Toolbox for Education 2016 marked the programs 11 year anniversary in 2016 the program provided approximately 7 million in grants and since inception has provided funding improvements at nearly 12000 schools benefiting more than six million children each year they work with national nonprofit partners to strengthen and stabilize neighborhoods in the communities Lowes contributed 7 million and teamed with habitat for humanity and Rebuilding Together to provide housing solutions in partnership with families across the country, they are also committed to helping residents of communities by being there when they are needed

But this is only the tip of the ice burg like all companies and the end of the day it’s all about sales and money and lowes is not lacking in that department for the fiscal year total sales grew 10.1 percent driven by comparable sales growth of 4,2 percent with all regions and product categories this sales growth combined with focus on improving productivity led to a 21.3 percent increase in the Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share and a 175 basis point increase in Return on invested capital to 15.83 percent. What does this say about the company? It’s making money and it is growing stronger every day to drive home this point we can look at some of the highlights from the 2016 financials the net sales for the company was 65,017,000 dollars with a gross margin of 34.55% they had comparable sales increase of 4.2 % and a return on invested Capital of 15.8 %. As they continue to serve home owners, renters and professional customers to complete a wide array of projects and vary along the spectrum of do it yourself and do it for