Losses in Germany failed to take the shine off Wal-Mart's final quarter figures released this week. Total sales were $56.556bn (£39.312m), an increase of 10% over the same quarter last year. Poor performance in Germany led to losses of between $150m and $200m, say analysts. Wal-Mart has pledged to break even there by 2003. Paul Smiddy of Credit Lyonnais said: "There was some slowdown in the fourth quarter, but overall Wal-Mart is still doing incredibly well in view of the size of the business. I don't think there will be any radical shift in its focus this year." Wal-Mart's results are not broken down for the overseas countries in which it operates so there are no separate figures for Asda in the UK. One analyst said: "I would guess there was a 2% to 4% like for like growth at Asda last quarter." Wal-Mart opened 41 discount stores, 167 Supercenters, 12 Neighborhood Markets, and opened or acquired 77 international units during the last year. President and CEO Lee Scott said Canada, Mexico and the UK led the international performance. {{NEWS }}