ISSAQUAH, WA and MEXICO CITY — Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) ("Costco Wholesale") and Controladora Comercial Mexicana, S.A.B. de C.V. ("CCM") are pleased to announce that they have executed a definitive agreement under which wholly-owned subsidiaries of Costco Wholesale will purchase from CCM its 50% share interest in Costco de México, S.A. de C.V. ("Costco México"), a joint venture, for $10,650 million MXN (the equivalent amount in U.S. dollars is $760.4 million based on an exchange rate of 14.006 pesos to the dollar). In addition, Costco Mexico has declared a cash dividend of approximately $4,774 million MXN (the equivalent amount in U.S. dollars is $340.85 million based on an exchange rate of 14.006 pesos to the dollar), 50% payable to a subsidiary of Costco Wholesale and 50% to CCM. Costco Wholesale will use the dividend proceeds and existing cash and investment balances to fund the purchase. CCM will use the dividend and sale proceeds to pay down debt.
The Costco México joint venture has been 50% owned by each of Costco Wholesale and CCM and operated by Costco Wholesale. The closing is subject to the approvals of the Mexican Federal Competition Commission and the shareholders of CCM. Mr. Guillermo González Nova, and Mr. Carlos González Zabalegui, respectively Chairman and CEO of CCM, will continue as members of the Board of Directors of Costco México. Mr. Jaime Gonzalez Solana will continue as CEO of Costco México.
Costco Wholesale currently operates 602 warehouses, including 435 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 82 in Canada, 32 in Mexico, 22 in the United Kingdom, 13 in Japan, eight in Taiwan, seven in Korea and three in Australia. The Company also operates Costco Online, an electronic commerce web site, at www.costco.com and at www.costco.ca in Canada. The Company plans to open up to an additional six new warehouses prior to the end of its fiscal year on September 2, 2012.
A brief conference call to discuss the transaction is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. (PT) on June 14, 2012, and is available at 800-399-8203 or via a webcast on www.costco.com (click on Investor Relations and "Play Webcast").
Certain statements contained in this document constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For these purposes, forward-looking statements are statements that address activities, events, conditions or developments that the Company expects or anticipates may occur in the future. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events, results or performance to differ materially from those indicated by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, domestic and international economic conditions, including exchange rates, the effects of competition and regulation, uncertainties in the financial markets, consumer and small business spending patterns and debt levels, conditions affecting the acquisition, development, ownership or use of real estate, actions of vendors, rising costs associated with employees (including health care costs), energy, and certain commodities, geopolitical conditions and other risks identified from time to time in the Company's public statements and reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
© Marketwire 2012
South Korea's Lotte Shopping abandons plan to start cash-and-carry venture in India - Economic Times
The retailer, one of Asia's largest with a presence from Russia and China to Vietnam and Indonesia, reckons high property prices and the complex nature of the business make wholesale retailing an unviable proposition in India, a person with direct knowledge of the development said.
The person added that Lotte Shopping had registered Lotte Cash and Carry India Pvt. Ltd with the idea of following in the footsteps of the world's top retailers, including Walmart Stores Inc of the United States and France's Carrefour SA.
Frustrated after waiting for years for India to open up its highly regulated multi-brand retailing for overseas investments, Walmart and Carrefour have rolled out cash-and-carry stores, which sell their wares to other retailers and businesses. Foreign retailers are allowed to own 100% local subsidiaries in wholesale retailing ventures.
Lotte had put together an eight-member team of business development executives, half of them Korean nationals and half Indians. The team began surveying the cash-and-carry model and scouting around for properties in various cities including Mumbai and Pune. Within four months the team concluded that cash-and-carry was a tough model to turn profitable in the country, prompting them to abort the proposed venture, said the person quoted above.
Now, Lotte Shopping has shelved its India plans and its team of Korean executives have either left the country or are in the process of leaving India bag-and-baggage, the person said. The Indian executives barring one have also left. The MD of the company Jin K Kim has also returned to South Korea.
A Lotte Shopping spokesman in Korea said the retailer's executives constantly travel to India to assess the investment climate there. The spokesperson said the company is "still trying" and "waiting for a chance" to open stores in India without specifying when. "We still have two corporate bodies'' in India, he said.
Lotte Shopping had closed its New Delhi office two years ago even as it maintained an office in Mumbai. The person aware of the development said Lotte saw little potential to open its supermarkets or departments stores catering to the burgeoning middle class in India as there are vociferous political opponents against liberalizing the country's retail sector for foreign supermarket operators.
The political standoff in India stems from the fear that allowing foreign supermarket chains in a sensitive sector would drive many of the estimated 12 million small shopkeepers out of business.
Around six years ago, Lotte Shopping had opened a liaison office in New Delhi's Kasturba Gandhi Marg to study the country's retail market and was talking to potential Indian partners even as Lotte's real estate unit was exploring possibility of entering the country's booming property market by building townships in Greater Noida or Gurgaon.
Now, even the real estate representative has left India, according to a former Lotte Shopping employee requesting anonymity. He says Lotte now plans to focus on its retail businesses in China and Indonesia instead.
Shopping festival Dubai Sumer Surprises triggers joy and some concerns - Xinhua News Agency
DUBAI, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The four-week long Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS), which kicked off Thursday in its 15th edition, is overall welcomed by residents and tourists alike, but the event also creates headaches over a run on hotels and a lack of parking space.
"In 2011, DSS generates some 8.8 billion Dirham (2.4 billion U. S. dollars) revenues spent by tourists and residents likewise," said H. E. Leila Mohamed Suhail, CEO of Dubai Events and Promotions and Establishments (DEPE), the DSS's state-owned organizing body. Last year's DSS attracted some four million visitors to "Fly-Buy-Dubai", as the sheikhdom is nicknamed among shopaholics.
"During the DSS, our sales are always going up," said Victoria, a saleswoman from the Philippines, who works at jewelry store Heaven Accessories in the Dubai Mall, the world's largest shopping mall based on total area. Victoria, who has been living in Dubai for the last five years, added that "the bulk of buyers are tourists and local Emirati ladies."
Tourists are even more eager to buy, since every shopper spending at least 200 Dirham (55 dollars) is eligible to get a raffle ticket, with which they can win prizes with a total value of two million Dirham (545 million dollars) throughout the DSS.
Edward, a corporate consultant from Leeds, England, travelled for the second time to Dubai with his wife, "and we enjoy the atmosphere during the DSS," he said. "Besides the shopping adventure, we enjoy the music groups and artistic events in the malls. In the UK, such events are really missing."
Edward added that it was not easy to book a hotel. "Demand is extremely high. We had to visit five to 10 online travel firms until we found a room just for the two of us in a hotel in the old town of Deira."
The rush to the DSS also creates traffic jams. On Thursday afternoon, when the DSS kicked off officially, cars were queuing over five km in front of the Dubai Mall -- albeit the shopping temple's car park offers over 14,000 undercover parking spaces.
Other residents miss the variety in the DSS. Obaid from India has been living in Dubai since 2003, "and frankly to me the DSS is every year the same," he said. "There were more malls, more tourists, and more events from year to year, but the overall concept of discounts, events and raffles has not change on a large scale," he added.
Victoria, who is from Belarus and works as a freelance model, agreed. "My work does not differ from the time around the DSS. There are many other events going on in Dubai over the whole year, so I think the DSS are really for travellers and tourists." Currently, Victoria promotes perfume from the New York-based fashion designer Carolina Herrera in the Dubai Mall.
Nouredeen who came from Lebanon for a holiday to visit his siblings in Dubai, said whilst he likes the DSS's fun-atmosphere and feel-good factor, he would also like to see more cultural events. "The groups performing the shopping malls are nice to see, but I think Dubai also needs more theatres and concerts. Shopping is not everything in life," he said.
However, the Dubai government is fully aware of this deficit. On March 21, Dubai ruler an United Arab Emirates Vice President and Prime Minister H. H. Sheikh. Mohamed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum launched the Dubai Modern Art Museum and Opera House District. The project shall be finished until 2015.
Savoo Launches 'Grocery' Savings in Response to UK Research into Retail - PR Newswire
LONDON, June 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
- mySupermarket and Savoo join forces to get Britain the deals it wants
- The UK's recession means we look for deals more than ever before
Research from Savoo, the UK's fastest growing money saving and voucher code website, shows the UK's shopping habits have changed dramatically in the last three years, but it is grocery shopping where the UK consumer wants to make the most savings and get the best deals. On the back of this informative research, Savoo has teamed up with mySupermarket in a ground-breaking initiative to offer its users access to the very best deals from all the UK major supermarkets.
Savoo's research shows a staggering 85% of women surveyed would use a discount code or coupon in supermarkets if it meant they would get a better price - perhaps indicating the UK is heading towards the extreme couponing culture of the US. Traditionally polite Britons are also changing their attitudes to using voucher codes, with 80% of respondents not being embarrassed to make a saving on the items they purchase compared with 70% two years ago.
Simon Bird, General Manager of Savoo commented, "This research shows how the UK is a nation of savvy shoppers using voucher codes and deals to get the best prices all the time with grocery prices, understandably being top of the agenda. We wanted to create an online solution for our members and we are delighted to be working with a brand like mySupermarket that has a first class solution to our problem"
James Foord, VP Business Development at mySupermarket remarked, "We are delighted to be working with Savoo to help more customers become savvy with their grocery shopping. With over 30,000 special offers currently available across the supermarkets, it's impossible for consumers to find the best deals for them, so we do this for them, helping them to cut their weekly grocery bill by 20%."
Other findings show the north / south divide strikes again, as it's the savvy people of Glasgow that make the most of discount vouchers by saving an average £526 a year on their grocery shopping, compared to the not so savvy people of Plymouth who only save £4.10 a week. Perhaps not surprisingly, it's the internet savvy young people of the UK that make the most of online deals and discounts with those aged 16-24 saving an average of £8.40 on their weekly shopping compared to those aged 55+ who save on average £5.
Savoo has over 200,000 deals on its site and is the only deal provider in the UK to offer consumers a 'personalised' deal newsletter and a customised and unique homepage. This page is packed with deals the consumers want and have asked for, eliminating the hundreds of daily deal emails and alerts that plague a user's inbox.
Notes to editors:
The research was carried out by Opinion Matters between: 16 / 02 / 2012 and 21 / 02 / 2012
Sample: 1365
To use the Savoo infographic please use the following embed code:
<a href="http://www.savoo.co.uk/blog/post/Infographic-How-We-Use-Discount-Vouchers.html"><img src="http://cdn.savings.com/logo/3236680.jpeg" width="500" alt=""/></a><br/> Produced by <a href="http://www.savoo.co.uk/">Savoo.co.uk</a>
About Savoo
Savoo http://www.savoo.co.uk prides itself on being the only UK voucher code and deal finder site which never knowingly lists expired vouchers or offer codes. Also, the best deal of each of their consumer categories is presented prominently using its unique algorithm which ensures that the best deals always rise to the top. Savoo has a dedicated team of researchers whose sole responsibility it is to find the best deals available 24 hours a day, and provide rigorous quality control.
Savoo's goal is to offer its customers the easiest and most powerful way to find, prioritise and distribute the best deals and information to help its users make intelligent decisions with their money. They extensively leverage technology, automation, community and elegant design to provide the most useful experience in a fun and rewarding way.
Savoo is the only voucher code site to offer a bespoke personalisation tool where visitors can now choose the deals and merchants they want to receive information on. Savoo now also offers consumers a comparison service that helps savvy shoppers get the best on mobile, broadband, flights and holidays.
Savoo launched in March 2009 and was created to address the frustration of generally which is a poor consumer experience from other discount and voucher sites. Savoo has been determined from the outset to build a more comprehensive Internet destination where users can find deals that suit them in a manner that's convenient to them. Savoo is the sister site of the highly successful US coupon and deal giant Savings.com http://www.Savings.com.
About mySupermarket
Founded in 2006, mySupermarket has grown from a small start up to a global retail site. It is the only independent grocery, wine and health & beauty shopping and comparison website in the UK. The site allows users to shop and compare products and prices across Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Boots, Superdrug, Ocado and Majestic Wine online stores. They are a 'one stop shop' for every single product available at the country's leading online supermarkets.
mySupermarket guarantees that shoppers will get the best possible value for money for their weekly shopping while enjoying an easier and more consumer-friendly shopping experience. With a record 30,000 special offers currently available, shoppers are guided towards the best deals, helping them to cut their weekly bill by 20%, saving an average family £800 over the year.
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