World Economic

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.–Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is "exploring opportunities in Russia," the head of its international operations said yesterday.

Mike Duke made the comments at Wal-Mart’s annual shareholders meeting, where the retailer touted the growth potential of its international business.

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, currently operates in 13 markets outside of the continental United States, including Japan and China. It also has established a joint venture in India.

Duke’s remarks are the latest in a series of statements indicating the company’s interest in expanding into Russia. In May, Duke said Wal-Mart was taking "active steps" to research Russia and nearby countries in Eastern Europe.

"We see this area offering Wal-Mart an opportunity to create value" and serve its emerging middle class, he said on a recorded call after the retailer reported first-quarter results.

CEO Lee Scott has voiced his interest in Russia. In October, at the company analyst meeting, Scott said Wal-Mart hoped to be in that country "at some point in the future."

Scott called Russia a "growing consumer nation." He said consumers there have shown a propensity to spend while, in other developing countries, they tend to save.

Yesterday, Wal-Mart said it saw potential for expansion in Asia beyond the countries where it now operates.

Vicente Trius, the head of Wal-Mart Asia, told reporters Southeast Asia as a whole "would be an area that has potential" for Wal-Mart.

The annual meeting got under way yesterday with a combination of self-congratulations for a year in which the retailer began to get its U.S. sales back on track and a tinge of nostalgia for its founder, Sam Walton.

"We will always be the kind of company that my Dad wanted us to be, swimming upstream, doing things a little differently than everyone else," chair Robson Walton, son of Wal-Mart’s founder, told the crowd.

"When I look at Wal-Mart today I see the same company my Dad saw 16 years ago, a company with its best days ahead," Walton said, referring to the day in 1992 when Sam Walton was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and addressed Wal-Mart employees publicly for one of the last times.

Wal-Mart shareholders were told the company’s back-to-basics strategy is helping the world’s largest retailer post sales gains despite the weak U.S faxless payday loans payday loans. economy.

It is emphasizing its low prices at the same time U.S. shoppers are being squeezed by rising food and fuel prices, a deteriorating housing market and tighter access to credit.

Wal-Mart’s shares have risen 26 per cent this year.

It said its May sales at U.S. stores opened at least a year rose 3.9 per cent, beating the analysts’ average estimate of a rise of 1.6 per cent.

The sales advance also surpassed Wal-Mart’s own forecast for sales to be anywhere from flat to up 2 per cent.

Wal-Mart "handsomely" beat all sales estimates in May, Eduardo Castro-Wright, head of Wal-Mart’s U.S. business, told the crowd of roughly 16,000 gathered for the meeting.

"We’re winning in the marketplace," he said, telling Wal-Mart employees in the audience they should be proud of their achievements.

Wal-Mart has predicted spending of $13.5 billion (U.S.) to $15.2 billion for the year that ends January 2009.

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