Growth, leverage and returns top Walmart priorities

BENTONVILLE, Ark. Wal-Mart Stores president and CEO Mike Duke provided the company’s outlook for enhancing shareholder value at the company’s 16th Annual Meeting for the Investment Community. He focused his remarks on executing three key priorities -- continuing to have aggressive growth plans, leveraging global scale and expenses, and improving the returns of each operating segment -- to further enhance shareholder value.

“There is no retail competitor -- here in the United States or anywhere in the world -- that can deliver the kind of growth that Walmart can over the next several years,” Duke said.

He also committed to improving Walmart’s expense structure by taking greater advantage of the company's scale and driving further productivity and efficiency throughout the system.

“Expenses will grow less than sales and Walmart’s entire management team is re-energized to improve in this important metric. The productivity loop is back at Walmart,” Duke said.

Addressing return on investment (ROI), Duke said, “Each operating segment has a long-term plan to improve ROI. We plan to continue to produce significant free cash flow, which will drive our ROI performance and deliver greater shareholder value.”

“Growth, leverage and returns throughout the company all lead to greater shareholder value,” he said.

Duke noted that the company’s strong operating performance demonstrates that its strategies are working. He said that the company’s focus on its mission of “saving people money so they can live better” and price leadership in every market has enabled Walmart to gain and retain new customers.

Duke concluded his opening remarks to investors by saying, “I’m competitive by nature and I want to win. There is no doubt in my mind that Walmart will continue to win in retail around the world.”