FRANCE: Rogue shareholder Knight Vinke Asset Management has slammed Carrefour's recent performance as a "débâcle" and has demanded the French retail giant appoint a new independent chairman as soon as possible. Lars Olofsson is both chairman and CEO and Knight Vinke wants the role split. It owns 1.5% of the company and took out a full-page ad in Le Monde to launch the attack. Carrefour shares have fallen 45% since the start of the year.
RUSSIA: Walmart is planning a return to Russia 10 months after it pulled the plug on its Moscow office. Lev Khasis, the former CEO of Russian supermarket retailer X5, joined as a vice-president in September and told the FT this week he was confident Walmart would enter Russia "sooner or later". His appointment has led to speculation Walmart will go directly after X5 Russia's largest retailer by sales.
US: Walmart is abandoning its Marketside concept stores, which have been trialled in Arizona since 2008. There are no plans to replace them with Walmart's new Express format, launched in June, despite the stores being similar sizes. It is believed Walmart will now focus on expanding the Express format. It currently has five Express stores in Arkansas, North Carolina and Chicago and plans to have 11 by the end of the year.
GERMANY: Jürgen Kluge, the chairman of Metro Group's supervisory board, has resigned. Kluge said he hoped his resignation would lead to a fresh start for the retailer, which is now without a chairman or CEO after the resignation of CEO Eckhard Cordes last week. Metro's largest shareholder, the Haniel family, has requested that former chairman Franz Markus Haniel succeeds Kluge.
SWITZERLAND: Nestlé has reported a 7.3% increase in sales to CHF60.9bn for the first nine months of 2011. Sales rose 5.8% in the Americas, 5% in Europe and 13.1% in Asia, Oceania and Africa. "For the year as a whole, in spite of input cost pressures, we expect to slightly overperform against our long-term organic growth range of 5%-6%," said CEO Paul Bulcke.
RUSSIA: Walmart is planning a return to Russia 10 months after it pulled the plug on its Moscow office. Lev Khasis, the former CEO of Russian supermarket retailer X5, joined as a vice-president in September and told the FT this week he was confident Walmart would enter Russia "sooner or later". His appointment has led to speculation Walmart will go directly after X5 Russia's largest retailer by sales.
US: Walmart is abandoning its Marketside concept stores, which have been trialled in Arizona since 2008. There are no plans to replace them with Walmart's new Express format, launched in June, despite the stores being similar sizes. It is believed Walmart will now focus on expanding the Express format. It currently has five Express stores in Arkansas, North Carolina and Chicago and plans to have 11 by the end of the year.
GERMANY: Jürgen Kluge, the chairman of Metro Group's supervisory board, has resigned. Kluge said he hoped his resignation would lead to a fresh start for the retailer, which is now without a chairman or CEO after the resignation of CEO Eckhard Cordes last week. Metro's largest shareholder, the Haniel family, has requested that former chairman Franz Markus Haniel succeeds Kluge.
SWITZERLAND: Nestlé has reported a 7.3% increase in sales to CHF60.9bn for the first nine months of 2011. Sales rose 5.8% in the Americas, 5% in Europe and 13.1% in Asia, Oceania and Africa. "For the year as a whole, in spite of input cost pressures, we expect to slightly overperform against our long-term organic growth range of 5%-6%," said CEO Paul Bulcke.
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