International Business

The Senate has voted unanimously to confirm former Walmart Foundation President Sylvia Mathews Burwell as White House budget director, according to a Reuters report.

The report went on to state that the 96-0 vote marks the first time the White House has had a fully confirmed budget director since January 2012, when Jack Lew, now Treasury Secretary, left the position to become Obama's chief of staff.

The Hershey Company announced a series of personnel moves it said would help accelerate global growth.

Executives involved in the changes which take effect May 13 include Humberto Alfonso, David Tacka, Michele Buck, E. Daniel Vucovich, D. Michael Wege and Waheed Zaman

Toronto -- Express Inc. announced that its move to parity pricing is now complete. The retailer said it has been working to make cross-border shopping a thing of the past since entering the Canadian market.
 
The company's at-par pricing ensures that consumers across North America can enjoy the same shopping experience and value, regardless of geographical location.

Online shoppers can also take advantage of the parities, including an $8 shipping fee, as well as free shipping on all orders over $125.

TORONTO, Ontario — U.S.-based specialty retail apparel chain Express has completed its move to parity pricing, in an effort to grow its customer base in the Canadian market.

Consistent North American pricing for all apparel and accessories available at the retailer will ensure that shoppers throughout the United States and Canada can enjoy the same value and shopping experience. Online shoppers will also be able to take advantage of the parities, including an $8 shipping fee, as well as free shipping on all orders totaling more than $125. 

FORT WORTH, Texas — RadioShack posted first quarter 2013 quarter sales of $849 million and a loss of $43 million, compared with $913 million last year and a loss of $8 million.

As a result of the company’s disappointing first quarter, it has ended its mobile phone partnership with Target. RadioShack said it had stopped operating its Target Mobile centers before the end of last month. The company had operated mobile phone kiosks inside Target stores. 

Hong Kong -- The Asia arm of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Monday it has achieved energy savings of 20% across 210 supplier factories in China.

According to Walmart Asia president and CEO Scott Price, the factories have “cut their energy consumption by a minimum of 20% as of December 2012, saving approximately 2.168 billion kWh, a number equivalent to powering 1.46 million homes for an entire year."

Indianapolis -- Simon Property Group announced today that, in partnership with Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd., it has opened Shisui Premium Outlets (Shisui Town, Inba District, Chiba Prefecture), the ninth Premium Outlet Center in Japan.

PAWTUCKET, R.I. — Strength in the games category enabled Hasbro to increase first quarter revenues by 2% to $664 million compared to $649 million for the same period last year. 

First quarter revenues were negatively affected by $3 million due to the impact of foreign exchange and one less week in the reporting period. The first quarter 2013 was a 13-week period compared to the first quarter 2012, which was a 14-week period.

Oak Brook, Ill. -- McDonald's Corp. reported Friday that net income for the quarter ended March 31 rose about 1% to $1.27 billion, from $1.26 billion last year. Total revenue also rose 1%, to $6.6 billion from $6.5 billion.

Same-store sales dipped, however, impacted said McDonald’s by a tightened eating-out environment during the quarter.

At home, same-store sales dipped 1.2%.

Chairman, president and CEO of Fast Retailing Tadashi Yanai is among the 2013 Time 100, the magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. 

Yanai was the only retail and CPG company executive to make the list. Other notables with a connection to the retail industry included Samsung CEO Oh-Hyun Kwon, Paypal co-founder Elon Musk and fashion designer Michael Kors. The complete list will appear in the April 29 issue of Time, available now.