International Business

The entire Walmart board was re-elected last Friday at the company’s shareholders meeting, but a substantial number of negative votes indicate some investors are not happy with long-time board members and key senior leaders.

The Sobey’s chain of food stores, whose parent company counts former Walmart Canada head Dave Ferguson among its board members, has added new square footage to its retail portfolio with the acquisitions of Safeway’s Canadian stores.

The $5.8 billion deal, announced late Wednesday will added Safeway’s 223 stores and 12 manufacturing facilities to Sobey’s existing operation which includes about 1,500 stores under banners such as Sobeys, IGA extra, Thrifty Foods, IGA, Foodland and FreshCo.

Royal Ahold CEO Dick Boer and Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke are the new co-chairs of global packaged goods organization the Consumer Goods Forum.
 
The selection of Boer and Bulcke was announced in conjunction with the CGF’s Global Summit in Tokyo. The pair replace outgoing co-chairs Muhtar Kent of the Coca-Cola Company and Gareth Ackerman of Pick n Pay. Ackerman and Denise Morrison, CEO of Campbell Soup Company, were appointed vice co-chairs of the forum.

The Canadian retail landscape shifted again late Wednesday when Safeway announced the sale of its operations there to Sobeys Inc. for $5.8 billion.

The all cash deal will result in net proceeds to Safeway of about $2 billion which will be used to pay down debt. Sobey’s is a Canadian food retailer and a wholly owned subsidiary of Empire Company Limited. It is acquiring Safeway’s 223 store operation and 12 manufacturing facilities that last year generated sales of $6.7 billion in Canadian dollars and a $428 million operating profit.

FAIRPORT HARBOR, Ohio — OurPets Company, a proprietary pet supply company, has promoted Tim Viancourt to the position of VP of global sales.

Winston-Salem, N.C. – Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation has entered into a letter of intent with an affiliate of Sun Holdings, LLC for the sale of three company-owned shops in Dallas, and for Sun Holdings' further development of the Dallas market. The sale of the stores is subject to conditions, including the execution of a definitive asset purchase agreement and a development agreement pursuant to which Sun Holdings would undertake the further development of new Krispy Kreme shops in Dallas.

Atlanta -- Executives from The Home Depot told attendees at an analyst meeting in New York on Monday that the company is focusing on improving its supply chain and Internet operations and expects a moderate recovery in the U.S. housing market. Roughly $450 million of Home Depot’s $1.5 billion capital spending budget for the current fiscal year is slated for IT projects.

In addition, Home Depot is also attempting to improve store productivity and is piloting five paint stores in the Chinese market.