Fitch Ratings Affirms Wal-Mart at 'AA'; Outlook Stable.Business Editors CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 15, 2002 Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. has affirmed af·firm v. af·firmed, af·firm·ing, af·firms v.tr. 1. To declare positively or firmly; maintain to be true. 2. To support or uphold the validity of; confirm. v.intr. its rating of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.'s (Wal-Mart) senior notes at 'AA' and commercial paper at 'F1+', following the company's announcement that its Board has authorized au·thor·ize tr.v. au·thor·ized, au·thor·iz·ing, au·thor·iz·es 1. To grant authority or power to. 2. To give permission for; sanction: a new $5 billion share repurchase Share Repurchase A program by which a company buys back its own shares from the marketplace, reducing the number of outstanding shares. This is usually an indication that the company's management thinks the shares are undervalued. program. Approximately $21 billion of rated debt was outstanding as of 7/31/02. The Rating Outlook is Stable. Wal-Mart maintains a relatively conservative financial posture. The company repurchased $1.7 billion worth of its shares in the first half of 2002, and future share repurchases will be partially debt-financed as the company intends to manage its debt/capital ratio around its 40% target. As of July 31, 2002, leverage stood at 39%. While leverage could move higher following a large acquisition, it would likely be reduced relatively quickly given the strength of Wal-Mart's cash flow and its willingness to curtail cur·tail tr.v. cur·tailed, cur·tail·ing, cur·tails To cut short or reduce. See Synonyms at shorten. [Middle English curtailen, to restrict share repurchases. Wal-Mart enjoys a dominant competitive position as the largest general merchandise discounter worldwide and is a leading player in the grocery channel. Wal-Mart has a solid record of profitable growth supported by its tight cost structure, which enables it to price aggressively and capture market share. This has continued despite the challenging retail environment, as the company generated solid 7.3% comparable store sales growth through the first six months of fiscal 2002. The company's international operations Internal Operations (I.O., IO or I/O) is a fictional American Intelligence Agency in Wildstorm comics. It was originally called International Operations. I.O. first appeared in WildC.A.T.S. volume 1 #1 (August, 1992) and was created by Brandon Choi and Jim Lee. have shown improvement, though they haven't performed up to the level of its domestic business. |
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