Sunday June 3, 03:36 AM
Glamour dose marks Wal-Mart's AGM
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By Sundeep Khanna
As annual general meetings go, it was one hell of a show. Wal-Mart's AGM of its shareholders held at Bentonville in Arkansas opened, as it does each year, at the crack of dawn. By 7 am, the auditorium, which two days ago had resonated to the sounds of the legendary sixties band Eagles, was full. Outside, in the town, the storm troopers raged in protest. But inside, where the faithful had gathered to pay homage to the house that Sam built, there was spectacular music and dance and merriment that would have put a Hollywood night to shame. The stars of Disney's latest hit The high school musical performed, as did American Idol Jordin Sparks. Stand-up comic artist David Adkins, who goes under the stage name Sinbad, anchored the show. But the piece de resistance came when Jennifer Lopez, all 5'5" of her, sang and swayed.
In between these wonderful distractions, the regular business of the AGM seemed almost irrelevant. On a day when the Commerce department released data showing the US economy performed poorly in the first quarter with GDP up only 0.6%, Wal-Mart's numbers looked impressive enough. Quarter 1 sales were up 8.3%, while net income grew 6.2%. The company announced a $15-billion share buyback plan, while cutting down on expansion plans for US supercentres. For the full-year fiscal 2006, sales grew 11.7%, while net income was up 6.7%. Wal-Mart shares rose nearly 1% to $47.60, as shareholders perceived the company was trimming capex.
But the focus of the show was to leave employees (called associates) and shareholders with dollops of 'feel good' at a time when the company has been under attack from activists and analysts. Indeed facing criticism from the left for not doing enough for the workers and from the right for bowing to the Left unions, it is the company's centre that holds firm. That core comprising the shareholders, many of who had a personal tale to tell about the legendary Sam Watson, land up year after year for the AGM, possibly the most spectacular corporate show on earth.
And the wait continues...
India, evidently, will have to wait somewhat longer to see the first Wal-Mart store in the country. Six years after Michael T Duke, vice-chairman of the company, responsible for international business, first visited India, its business continues to be restricted to $600 million worth of procurement. In a meeting with the press Duke did talk about "the giant groundswell" for Wal-Mart in India while expressing confidence in Bharti, its partner. But he made no commitments in terms of a launch date. India remains a priority market for Wal-Mart. As Duke said "It's not a race for us. My measure of performance isn't the number of units."
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