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Masters roll-out was “too aggressive”, says Woolworths’ partner Lowe’s

American home improvement giant Lowe’s says the introduction of its disastrous joint venture with Woolworths, Masters, was "too aggressive" and that it opened too many stores without first finding a successful format.

Lowe’s Companies Inc told Woolworths on Saturday it was pulling out of Masters, exercising a put option that required Woolworths to buy its 33.3 percent share in the joint venture.

That led to Woolworths announcing on Monday it would pull out of home improvements entirely, saying it could not make the chain of 63 Masters stores profitable in the foreseeable future and that it couldn’t sustain the losses of more than AUD200 million (USD138.4m) a year it was incurring.