MOORESVILLE, N.C., Feb. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Lowe's
Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) announced plans to enhance benefits,
including expanded maternity and parental leave as well as adoption
assistance. The company will also offer a one-time bonus up to
$1,000 for its more than 260,000
hourly employees. The bonus will be paid in addition to the
company's long-standing, store-level bonus program.
"We are investing in our employees who make a difference every
day in the communities where we live and work," said Robert A. Niblock, Lowe's chairman, president
and CEO. "Our employees are the foundation of our business, and we
are excited to enhance our benefits to better meet their needs and
the needs of their families."
Niblock added, "Today's announcement is another example of how
we will continue to invest in our employee and customer experience
as we continue to evaluate the impact of tax reform."
Lowe's will award the one-time cash bonus to eligible full- and
part-time hourly employees across all its U.S. facilities
including: stores, customer support centers, contact centers and
distribution centers.
In addition to the company's comprehensive benefits program,
eligible full-time hourly and salaried U.S. employees will qualify
to receive:
- Ten weeks of paid maternity leave and two weeks of paid
parental leave.
- An adoption assistance benefit to cover up to $5,000 of expenses related to agency, legal and
other fees.
- Eligibility to enroll in health benefits sooner, as early as
the first of the month following 30 days of service.
These enhancements follow the company's recent hiring
announcement to recruit more than 53,000 seasonal associates
nationwide to better serve customers and communities.
Lowe's also announced that it currently estimates that the
impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 will result in
additional net tax expense of approximately $75 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017.
This charge, coupled with the one-time bonus, is expected to
negatively impact the company's 2017 fourth quarter diluted
earnings-per-share by approximately $0.14.
For fiscal 2018, Lowe's estimates that the net impact of tax
reform on its tax provision and cash taxes paid will be positive.
The company will continue to make investments to better meet the
needs of customers and its employees. Lowe's will provide fiscal
2018 guidance on its fourth quarter 2017 earnings call scheduled
for Feb. 28, 2018.
About Lowe's
Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is a
FORTUNE® 50 home improvement company serving more than
17 million customers a week in the United
States, Canada and
Mexico. With fiscal year 2016 sales of $65.0 billion, Lowe's and its related businesses
operate or service more than 2,370 home improvement and hardware
stores and employ over 290,000 people. Founded in 1946 and based in
Mooresville, N.C., Lowe's supports
the communities it serves through programs that focus on K-12
public education and community improvement projects. For more
information, visit Lowes.com.
Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This
press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Statements including words such as "believe", "expect",
"anticipate", "plan", "desire", "project", "estimate", "intend",
"will", "should", "could", "would", "may", "strategy", "potential",
"opportunity" and similar expressions are forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements involve estimates,
expectations, projections, goals, forecasts, assumptions, risks and
uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include, but are
not limited to, statements about future financial and operating
results, Lowe's plans, objectives, business outlook, priorities,
expectations and intentions, expectations for sales growth,
comparable sales, earnings and performance, shareholder value,
capital expenditures, cash flows, the housing market, the home
improvement industry, demand for services, share repurchases,
Lowe's strategic initiatives, including those relating to
acquisitions by Lowe's and the expected impact of such transactions
on our strategic and operational plans and financial results, and
any statement of an assumption underlying any of the foregoing and
other statements that are not historical facts. Although we
believe that the expectations, opinions, projections and comments
reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, such
statements involve risks and uncertainties and we can give no
assurance that such statements will prove to be correct. Actual
results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in
such statements.
A wide variety of potential risks, uncertainties and other
factors could materially affect our ability to achieve the results
either expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements
including, but not limited to, changes in general economic
conditions, such as the rate of unemployment, interest rate and
currency fluctuations, fuel and other energy costs, slower growth
in personal income, changes in consumer spending, changes in the
rate of housing turnover, the availability of consumer credit and
of mortgage financing, inflation or deflation of commodity prices,
and other factors that can negatively affect our customers, as well
as our ability to: (i) respond to adverse trends in the housing
industry, a reduced rate of growth in household formation, and
slower rates of growth in housing renovation and repair activity,
as well as uneven recovery in commercial building activity; (ii)
secure, develop, and otherwise implement new technologies and
processes necessary to realize the benefits of our strategic
initiatives focused on omni-channel sales and marketing presence
and enhance our efficiency; (iii) attract, train, and retain
highly-qualified associates; (iv) manage our business effectively
as we adapt our operating model to meet the changing expectations
of our customers; (v) maintain, improve, upgrade and protect our
critical information systems from data security breaches,
ransomware and other cyber threats; (vi) respond to fluctuations in
the prices and availability of services, supplies, and products;
(vii) respond to the growth and impact of competition; (viii)
address changes in existing or new laws or regulations that affect
consumer credit, employment/labor, trade, product safety,
transportation/logistics, energy costs, health care, tax or
environmental issues; (ix) positively and effectively manage our
public image and reputation and respond appropriately to
unanticipated failures to maintain a high level of product and
service quality that could result in a negative impact on customer
confidence and adversely affect sales; and (x) effectively manage
our relationships with selected suppliers of brand name products
and key vendors and service providers, including third party
installers. In addition, we could experience impairment losses if
either the actual results of our operating stores are not
consistent with the assumptions and judgments we have made in
estimating future cash flows and determining asset fair values, or
we are required to reduce the carrying amount of our investment in
certain unconsolidated entities. With respect to acquisitions,
potential risks include the effect of such transactions on Lowe's
and the target company's strategic relationships, operating results
and businesses generally; our ability to integrate personnel, labor
models, financial, IT and others systems successfully; disruption
of our ongoing business and distraction of management; hiring
additional management and other critical personnel; increasing the
scope, geographic diversity and complexity of our operations;
significant integration costs or unknown liabilities; and failure
to realize the expected benefits of the transaction. For more
information about these and other risks and uncertainties that we
are exposed to, you should read the "Risk Factors" and
"Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and
Results of Operations—Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates"
included in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and the
description of material changes thereto, if any, included in our
Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or subsequent filings with the
SEC.
The forward-looking statements contained in this news release
are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing
cautionary statements. The foregoing list of important factors that
may affect future results is not exhaustive. When relying on
forward-looking statements to make decisions, investors and others
should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other
uncertainties and potential events. All such forward-looking
statements are based upon data available as of the date of this
release or other specified date and speak only as of such date. All
subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable
to us or any person acting on our behalf about any of the matters
covered in this release are qualified by these cautionary
statements and in the "Risk Factors" included in our most recent
Annual Report on Form 10-K and the description of material changes
thereto, if any, included in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or
subsequent filings with the SEC. We expressly disclaim any
obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement,
whether as a result of new information, change in circumstances,
future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.
View original content with
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lowes-expands-benefits-and-announces-cash-bonus-300591431.html
SOURCE Lowe's Companies, Inc.