Walmart’s Annual Report Stresses Tech, Associate Investments

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has issued its 2017 Annual Report, “Moving With Speed,” which provides shareholders with highlights of the mega-retailer’s achievements over the last fiscal year and key company-wide initiatives for the next.

According to the report, Walmart is using the power of technology and its investments in associates to serve customers better and give associates more opportunities to advance. In the coming year, the company will focus on four key objectives -- make every day easier for busy families, change the way Walmart works, deliver results, and operate with discipline and be the most trusted retailer -- to leverage opportunities in an evolving retail industry.

“We are a company of the future,” Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon wrote in a letter to shareholders, associates and customers. “We’re operating from a strong foundation built by those before us and taking action aimed at strengthening our business this year and beyond. We’ll continue to strengthen our stores around the world, we’ll continue to build our e-commerce and digital capabilities and we’ll put them together in a way that saves customers time and money.”

Additionally, the company has released its 2017 Global Responsibility Report, which outlines its major milestones in fiscal year 2017 related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives, as well as detailing shared value priorities and aspirations for 2025, and issued its fourth report on ethics and compliance, which presents its ongoing efforts to prioritize and enhance training in these areas, anti-corruption policies and procedures, and digitization of compliance processes and systems.

In other Walmart news, ahead of its annual shareholders meeting in June, the company began distributing its proxy statement with details of the event agenda and information on the composition of the board of directors. As board members Linda Wolf and Pam Craig are retiring, shareholders will be able to vote on new independent nominee Carla Harris, vice chair of the wealth management business segment of New York-based financial services firm Morgan Stanley.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart operates 11,695 stores under 59 banners in 28 countries, and e-commerce websites in 11 countries.