International Business

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. will webcast its annual meeting for the investment community on Wed., Oct. 12 from approximately 8:00 a.m. CDT to 3:30 p.m. CDT. 

MINNEAPOLIS — Michael Francis, EVP and CMO of Target, and the person charged with leading the retailer's expansion into Canada, has left the company, Target announced Monday.

“We would like to thank Michael for his many contributions and wish him the best in his future endeavors” said Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and CEO.

Milford, Conn. — Subway said Monday that it opened more than 400 sandwich shops during August and September in 44 countries, 36 U.S. states and seven Canadian provinces.

The new restaurants account for more than 480,000 sq. ft. of retail space and bring the total number of Subways to just over 35,300 locations in 98 countries.

Toano, Va. -- Flooring retailer Lumber Liquidators said Friday it will acquire certain assets of Sequoia Floorings in order to strengthen its mill-direct relationships and shore up its long-term sourcing strategies.

Sequoia, a trading company, had provided product quality and development services on approximately 40% of Lumber Liquidators’ 2010 merchandise purchases, primarily those in Asia.

Columbus, Ohio -- Information sharing,  expense benchmarking, innovative technologies, energy management systems, disaster preparedness and international facility management were ranked as the most important agenda topics by attendees at FacilitySource’s 5th annual Leadership Symposium, on Sept. 19-22.

Former Asda executive and Walmart Canada CEO David Cheesewright has a new role that opens up some intriguing growth possibilities, given his new responsibilities include oversight of geographic areas where Walmart doesn’t currently operate stores.

Wan Ling Martello may not have been a household name outside of Walmart, but that doesn’t diminish the significance of her departure from a company eager to achieve a higher degree of diversity among the ranks of its senior executives.

Stockholm, Sweden -- Hennes & Mauritz AB reported Thursday that profit for the third quarter fell 15% to $533 million, from nearly $621 million in the year-ago period. The Swedish fashion retailer cited rising procurement costs, marketing investments and a bump-up in new-store expansion for the decrease in profit.

H&M said it will add 265 new stores, up from the 250 previously planned, and will make market debuts in Indonesia and Thailand.