Wal-Mart Canada has named Dirk Van den Berghe as president and chief executive, effective Aug. 1.
Van den Berghe has served in a number of roles within international retail, most recently as an executive with the Delhaize Group, a global food retailer with operations in eight countries. Van den Berghe was CEO for Delhaize's Belgium and Luxembourg operations.
Wal-Mart has 391 stores and an e-commerce component -- walmartcanada.ca -- in Canada. There are 95,000 Wal-Mart employees in Canada. Van den Berghe's international experience and familiarity with food retail will be a plus for Wal-Mart, Shelley Broader, CEO of Wal-Mart Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said in a news release.
"[His] vast experience will allow us to strengthen our growing food business in Canada and complements our highly-successful general merchandise operation," Broader said.
-- Chris Bahn
Mississippi casinos see revenue drop
JACKSON, Miss. -- Casinos across Mississippi saw big drops in revenue in May, dipping by 10.6 percent compared with the year before.
Revenue at Gulf casinos is down 2 percent over the past 12 months. The river casinos have seen revenue fall 7 percent over the past 12 months, where Tunica and Lula casinos have suffered.
Mississippi Department of Revenue figures show casinos statewide took in $172 million from gamblers in May, down from $192 million May 2013.
The 12 coastal casinos' take was $84.3 million, down 11 percent from May 2013. The 18 river casinos took in $87.5 million, down 10 percent from a year earlier.
It's the 21st month out of the last 23 that Mississippi casinos have won less money from gamblers compared with the same month of the previous year. June could see even sharper drops in the river region, with Caesars Entertainment Corp. having closed its Harrah's casino in Tunica County on June 2. About 1,000 workers lost their jobs in the shutdown, which left Caesars with two smaller casinos in the struggling eight-casino market.
The numbers exclude Choctaw Indian casinos, which aren't required to report winnings to the state.
-- The Associated Press
Union dispute threatens coastal trade
Business groups are urging longshoremen and their employers to avoid a dispute that threatens to cripple ports along the West Coast and affect billions of dollars in commerce.
A six-year pact between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents about 20,000 dock workers at 29 West Coast ports, expires Monday, both sides said in a joint June 4 release. Negotiations began in May. The ports account for about half of all U.S. maritime trade and more than 70 percent of imports from Asia, according to the association.
A failure to agree and a resulting halt to shipments will have "serious economy-wide impacts," a coalition of organizations representing U.S. manufacturers, farmers, wholesalers, retailers, distributors and other groups wrote in a May 9 letter to union President Robert McEllrath and association President James McKenna.
"The potential for disruptions in the flow of commerce at West Coast ports is creating uncertainty in a fragile economic climate and forcing many businesses to develop contingency plans that come at a significant cost to jobs and our economic competitiveness," the letter says.
Companies are moving goods early and making plans for alternate ports, said Jonathan Gold of the Washington-based National Retail Federation, a trade group representing members including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., McDonald's Corp. and J.C. Penney Co.
-- Bloomberg News
GE reaches $17 billion deal in France
Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt on Sunday clinched General Electric Co.'s biggest acquisition ever, the $17 billion purchase of Alstom SA's energy assets, after the resolution of the French government's last condition for the deal.
Nearing his 13th anniversary as GE's CEO, the 58-year-old Immelt prevailed over initial French opposition to a transaction with a local industrial icon. His lobbying of French officials assured GE a record prize more than a decade after European regulators thwarted predecessor Jack Welch's bid for U.S. rival Honeywell International Inc.
"This was handled the way a Jeff Immelt would do it -- no theatrics, no trash talking, 'can we find some common ground,'" said Brian Langenberg, principal and director of research at Chicago-based Langenberg & Co. "To me it fits his playing style. It was just very well done."
With final approval from France, GE now heads toward a 2015 closing to buy Alstom's gas-turbine operations and create joint ventures in the steam-turbine, renewable-energy and electrical-transmission businesses. Those units will further Immelt's push to return GE to its manufacturing roots.
-- Bloomberg News
Bankruptcy court OKs sale of Brookstone
Brookstone Inc., the luxury-gadget retailer, won bankruptcy court approval Monday of its plan to sell the chain to a group of Chinese buyers for about $174 million, which will be used to fund payments to creditors.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Linehan Shannon at a hearing in Wilmington, Del., granted Brookstone's sale to a company backed by Chinese conglomerate Sanpower Group and Hong Kong-based private-equity firm Sailing Capital.
The sale forms the cornerstone of the retailer's bankruptcy exit plan, which the judge also approved Monday.
-- Bloomberg News
Airline to screen 7-hour film on flights
British Airways planes will screen a seven-hour film showing a rail journey through Norway in real time as its first foray into so-called Slow TV, a genre it says should appeal to long-haul passengers seeking relaxing viewing.
Other offerings that could be available alongside the latest computer games, Hollywood blockbusters and television cop shows include knitting, a walk in the park and bird feeding, London-based British Airways said Monday in a statement.
Footage of a rail trip from Bergen to Oslo was popular in Norway, where about 1 million people, or 20 percent of the population, have viewed it, according to British Airways, which will screen the journey on hundreds of flights from next month. The marathon film has a similar appeal to that of moving plane maps watched by passengers for "endless hours," it said.
"It fits perfectly with the wallpaper-style footage people find mesmerizing," on-board entertainment manager Richard D'Cruze said after securing the first airline rights to the rail film. "There's a hypnotic, calming and entertaining quality to Slow TV that is perfect for in-flight entertainment."
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 06/24/2014