Lowe's Expands Benefits And Announces Cash Bonus

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.

SOURCE Lowe's Companies, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.lowes.com