Walmart 2008 Annual Report Download - page 22

20 WAL-MART 2008 ANNUAL REPORT
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Highlights
Fiscal Year Ended January 31,
2008 2007 2006
Net cash provided by
operating activities
of continuing operations $ 20,354 $ 19,997 $ 18,343
Purchase of Company stock (7,691) (1,718) (3,580)
Dividends paid (3,586) (2,802) (2,511)
Proceeds from issuance
of long-term debt 11,167 7,199 7,691
Payment of long-term debt (8,723) (5,758) (2,724)
Increase (decrease)
in commerical paper 2,376 (1,193) (704)
Total assets of
continuing operations $163,514 $151,587 $136,230
Overview
Cash ows provided by operating activities of continuing operations
supply us with a signicant source of liquidity. The increases in cash
ows provided by operating activities of continuing operations for
each scal year were primarily attributable to increased income from
continuing operations.
Working Capital
Current liabilities exceeded current assets at January 31, 2008, by
$10.9 billion, an increase of $5.7 billion from January 31, 2007. Our ratio
of current assets to current liabilities was 0.8 and 0.9 at January 31,
2008 and 2007, respectively. We generally have a working capital
decit due to our ecient use of cash in funding operations and in
providing returns to shareholders in the form of stock repurchases
and payment of dividends.
Company Share Repurchase Program
From time to time, we had repurchased shares of our common stock
under a $10.0 billion share repurchase program authorized by our
Board of Directors in September 2004.
On May 31, 2007, the Board of Directors replaced the $10.0 billion
share repurchase program, which had $3.3 billion of remaining
authorization for share repurchases, with a new $15.0 billion share
repurchase program announced on June 1, 2007. Under the new
share repurchase program, there is no expiration date or other
restriction limiting the period over which we can make our share
repurchases under the new program, which will expire only when
and if we have repurchased $15.0 billion of our shares under the
program. Under the new program, repurchased shares are construc-
tively retired and returned to unissued status. We consider several
factors in determining when to execute the share repurchases,
including among other things, our current cash needs, our capacity
for leverage, our cost of borrowings and the market price of our
common stock. At January 31, 2008, approximately $8.5 billion
remained of the $15.0 billion authorization.
Common Stock Dividends
We paid dividends of $0.88 per share in scal 2008, representing
a 31.3% increase over scal 2007. The scal 2007 dividend of $0.67
per share represented an 11.7% increase over scal 2006. We have
increased our dividend every year since the rst dividend was
declared in March 1974.
On March 6, 2008, the Company’s Board of Directors approved an
increase in annual dividends to $0.95 per share, an increase of 8.0%
over the dividends paid in scal 2008. The annual dividend will be
paid in four quarterly installments on April 7, 2008, June 2, 2008,
September 2, 2008, and January 2, 2009 to holders of record on
March 14, May 16, August 15 and December 15, 2008, respectively.
We paid dividends of $0.88 per
share in fiscal 2008, representing
a 31.3% increase over fiscal 2007.
We have increased our dividend
every year since the first dividend
was declared in March 1974.