Hi, this is Carol Schumacher, vice president of global investor relations for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Thanks for joining us today for our earnings call to review the first quarter of fiscal 2015. The date of this call is May 15, 2014. This call is the property of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and is intended for the use of Walmart shareholders and the investment community. It should not be reproduced in any way. [Operator instructions.] This call will contain statements that Walmart believes are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, and that are intended to enjoy the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provided by that Act. Please note that a cautionary statement regarding the forward-looking statements will be made following Charles Holley’s remarks in this call. Our press release and transcript are available on our corporate website – stock.walmart.com. Additionally, starting this quarter, we’ve added a supplemental slide deck that summarizes our key financial results, which is a part of and should be viewed and used in conjunction with this call. That presentation appears at the end of the transcript of this call. We believe this deck provides a more streamlined approach to reviewing our financial performance and prior year comparisons. Unit count data, which is updated monthly, is posted separately on the investors’ portion of the website, under the section called financial reporting. One additional item I would like to highlight is that beginning this quarter we will provide results and commentary primarily on our 5 largest international markets, all of which had revenue in excess of $10 billion in fiscal 2014. As a reminder, for fiscal 2015, we utilize a 52-week comp reporting calendar. For this year, quarter-to-date and year-to-date comps will be based on 13- and…

Thanks, Carol, and good morning everyone. Walmart’s first quarter consolidated net sales increased to more than $850 million or 0.8% over last year. Like other retailers in the United States, the unseasonably cold and disruptive winter weather negatively impacted our U.S. sales and drove operating expenses higher than expected for the company. This, coupled with the higher than anticipated tax rate, resulted in earnings per share of $1.10. Our underlying business is solid, and I’m confident in the company’s long-term strategies. We’re making progress on building a more customer-centric organization, with a foundation of everyday low prices. We’re investing in technology and our multi-format portfolio to bring Walmart’s value proposition to many more customers around the world. We have a tremendous opportunity to win with the integration of digital and physical retail, as customers have the resources from us to shop on their terms. Walmart U.S. added approximately $1.3 billion in net sales compared to last year. We delivered on our comp guidance despite the impact from severe weather several times during the quarter. Our sales increased during the back half of the quarter. Neighborhood Markets delivered approximately a 5% comp. This strong and consistent performance is exciting, as we accelerate their rollout this year to complement our core supercenter fleet. Of course, we always have room for improvement. We continue to focus on our execution, both in-store and online, to provide customers with the merchandise and the shopping experience they desire. Sam’s Club had a tough quarter, with lower sales than anticipated. Membership income increased, driven primarily by last year’s fee increase. I’m encouraged by the work underway to elevate the merchandise assortment to highlight newness and drive sales. We’re also launching new services next month to make a Sam’s Club membership more rewarding. A bright spot this quarter…

Thank you, Doug. Today, I’d like to highlight items affecting the company’s consolidated financial results for the first quarter and provide a bit of color around certain other items. Additional details from a consolidated perspective are available for reference in the accompanying presentation on slides 2, 3 and 4. Severe weather in our U.S. businesses negatively impacted EPS by approximately $0.03. Additionally, the company’s effective tax rate for the quarter was higher than anticipated in the full-year guidance we provided on February 20. We continue to believe our full-year tax rate will range between 32% and 34%. We may experience quarterly fluctuations in our effective tax rate, as it may be impacted by a number of factors. The impact of currency fluctuations continued to weigh on our results, negatively impacting net sales by $1.6 billion. As you can see on slide 2, consolidated net sales increased more than $850 million, or 0.8%. Excluding the currency impact, net sales would have increased 2.1%. Let’s move on to operating expenses. Corporate and support expenses, which include core corporate, global e-commerce support and global leverage services, increased 12.4%. As we take a closer look at the components, core corporate expenses increased 5.4%. FCPA and compliance-related expenses for the quarter were approximately $53 million. Approximately $34 million of these expenses represented costs incurred for the ongoing inquiries and investigations, and approximately $19 million was related to our global compliance program and organizational enhancements. The growth in e-commerce support was driven by our investments to help expand our global technology platform to deliver an unparalleled customer experience. Our leverage services area includes investments we are making in technology, such as back office capabilities and risk and compliance management. In addition, we continue to invest in SAP to support our core operating segments, including productivity initiatives.…

Thank you, Claire. For the first quarter, we added approximately $1.3 billion in net sales, with relatively flat comp sales. As we indicated in February, we realized negative comp sales during the first two weeks of the fiscal year from severe winter storms. A solid start to the spring season and a strong Easter holiday drove positive comps over the remaining 11 weeks of the quarter; that’s despite additional severe weather and about 50 basis points of continued SNAP-related headwind. Weather impacted Q1 comp sales by approximately 20 basis points. Overall, our comp sales were down 8 basis points, in line with our guidance. I’m encouraged by the sales momentum in the back half of the quarter and with approximately 30 basis points of improvement in our comp versus Q4. I’m also pleased we gained 23 basis points in market share across the key categories of “food, consumables & OTC” for the 13 weeks ended April 26, 2014, according to The Nielsen Company. The entire team was focused on driving sales, launching multiple innovative initiatives that position us well in the second quarter and for the remainder of the year. Profit was challenging, down 4.3% versus last year. Severe weather-related profit impacts accounted for approximately $120 million in headwind versus last year. Additionally, health care expenses increased at double-digit growth rates, or more than $110 million, primarily from increased enrollment and medical cost inflation. We realized unanticipated double-digit percent growth in our maintenance and utilities expenses, associated with snow removal and higher utility rates and usage. Severe weather also created disruptions across our supply chain, causing freight backlog across much of the country. To keep our stores well stocked, we incurred incremental expenses for third-party transportation services and overtime wages. And, of course, we also continued to invest in price,…

Thank you, Bill. Overall, I’m satisfied with our performance in the first quarter. In a challenging global economy, our teams delivered solid sales and profit growth by focusing on expanding price leadership and providing great customer service. We remain focused on being in good businesses and running them well. I’m encouraged by the progress we’re making against our strategic priorities, but there’s still much to do. As I’ve traveled around our markets, I’ve been particularly impressed with the caliber of our associates. The passion and commitment in delivering our purpose of “saving people money so they can live better” is clear to see wherever we operate. We continue to invest in expanding price leadership in key markets. For example, in Mexico, Superama lowered prices on more than 5,000 items and put in place a quality guarantee. In Brazil, our new advertising campaign that kicked off in February explains and reinforces to our customers in Brazil our mission of “saving people money so they can live better.” The value-themed ads include real life experiences from customers, as well as innovative appearances in TV shows and feature Brazil’s national soccer coach. To continue this pricing momentum across the globe, we’re working with third party analysts, such as The Nielsen Company, to develop consistent market share reporting. The ability to have more timely access to data helps us react even more quickly to maintain price leadership and hold customer trust. Driving the productivity loop to be the low cost operator in each market is core to our business model. The “We Operate for Less” programs in China and Brazil are allowing us to offset wage inflation in those countries. In the U.K., we further rolled out the hybrid checkout system which speeds up the checkout process. Now more than half of all U.K.…

Thanks, Dave. The fiscal year started with several challenges for our core member, resulting in one of our more difficult quarters. The combination of severe weather and the reduction of public assistance represented an approximate 90 basis point impact to comp sales. In addition, Q1 was marked by a rapid acceleration in inflation, as cost inflation was approximately 160 basis points, compared to 30 basis points in Q4. Despite our efforts to combat these challenges, sales did not materialize as expected. Net sales grew 0.5%, without fuel, to $12.2 billion. Operating income declined 1.4% to $477 million. Our comp for the 13-week period ending May 2, excluding fuel, declined 0.5%, comprised of both decreases in traffic and ticket. In recent quarters, our Savings member traffic has helped to offset the softness in our Business member segment. This quarter we saw positive, yet lower Savings member traffic, coupled with slower ticket acceleration – primarily in our lower to middle income members. Business member traffic and ticket remained soft. Over the past year, our merchants have been elevating the value and uniqueness of our merchandise assortment. We’re seeing positive results in areas where we’ve introduced newness. These areas of growth mirror current member trends around “fresh, fast and fit”. Let me give you some examples. Within “fit”, our new assortment of snacking options, which includes exclusive “better for you” choices, is helping to drive double-digit unit growth. Also, our on-trend “athleisure” active wear helped deliver a double-digit positive comp in ladies apparel. We’ve also enhanced our private label offering by introducing new, high quality items and consolidating the existing assortment into three main labels: Member’s Mark, Daily Chef and Simply Right. The recent investments are being recognized. For example, Member’s Mark Ultimate Clean laundry detergent received top rankings from a leading external…

Thanks, Roz. Let me wrap up today’s discussion by providing some perspective on the quarter. First, we feel good about several aspects of our business. We added over $850 million in consolidated net sales. This included a $1.6 billion negative impact from foreign currency. We delivered earnings per share within our guidance, albeit the low end. Our earnings per share were impacted by the quarter’s severe weather, along with a higher effective tax rate than we anticipated. Walmart U.S. comp sales results were within guidance. We experienced solid net sales growth in 4 out of our 5 major international markets. And, e-commerce sales grew approximately 27% on a global basis. Looking at the rest of the year, our teams have a clear focus on driving comp sales and delivering on our other growth initiatives. We’re also committed to growing our store base. Net square footage increased to 1.1 billion square feet at the end of the first quarter, which is up 4 million square feet from the end of fiscal 2014. Because of our large base, the increase is 0.4%; however, the additional 4 million square feet is still significant. We continue to be excited about our e-commerce businesses and the rapid growth we’re experiencing in this area. We continue to make progress through site enhancements, search capabilities and fulfillment, and we expect these improvements to continue. In fact, during the quarter, we opened 2 dedicated e-commerce fulfillment centers -- one in Pennsylvania and the other in Brazil. We’ll also continue to make strategic acquisitions to build out our technology, talent and capabilities. To put things into perspective, over the last three years, we’ve acquired 12 companies, which today serve as the driving force behind the innovative work our e-commerce teams are doing. Our acquisition earlier this month of Adchemy…

This call included certain forward-looking statements. Those forward-looking statements are intended to enjoy the safe harbor protections of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, and generally are identified by the use of the words or phrases “anticipate,” “estimates,” “expect,” “fluctuations,” “focused in several key areas,” “guidance,” “may experience,” “on track to deliver,” “plans,” “priorities,” “re-launch,” “rollout,” “we’ll also continue,” “will allow,” “will be,” “will be able,” “will continue,” “will create,” “will…focus,” “will further differentiate,” “will help drive,” “will launch,” “will likely fluctuate,” “will…make,” “will range,” “will see” or a variation of one of those words or phrases in those statements or by the use of words and phrases of similar import. Similarly, descriptions of Walmart’s objectives, plans, goals, targets or expectations are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this call included statements relating to management’s forecasts, expectations and objectives for and regarding: Walmart’s diluted earnings per share from continuing operations attributable to Walmart for the second quarter of fiscal year 2015, including expected per share incremental expenses related to investments in e-commerce, and the comparable store sales of the Walmart U.S. operating segment and the comparable club sales, excluding fuel, of the Sam’s Club operating segment for the 13-week period ending August 1, 2014 (and statements of certain assumptions underlying such forecasts); the range of the company’s effective tax rate in fiscal year 2015, the expected effective tax rate for the second quarter of fiscal year 2015 and the likelihood of the effective tax rate fluctuating from quarter to quarter; the company’s net interest expense being higher in fiscal year 2015 than it was in fiscal year 2014; the range of expenses expected to be incurred in connection with FCPA-related matters in fiscal year 2015; the expected expense headwind caused by higher health care benefit enrollment…