CHICAGO (AFX) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said late Friday that Wal-Mart Mexico Chief Executive Eduardo Castro-Wright will head the company's U.S. division of its namesake stores. Shares of Bentonville, Ark.-based behemoth ended the session at $53.99, off 6 cents, ahead of the news. Castro-Wright, 49, has hammered out strong results since taking the helm of the division known as Wal-Mex since 2001. Effective Feb. 25, he will become executive vice president and chief operating officer of the U.S. Wal-Mart stores, reporting to Michael T. Duke, president and CEO of the division. Castro-Wright has held a variety of top executive positions before working for Wal-Mart, including president of Honeywell Transportation and Power Systems Worldwide, president of Nabisco Asia-Pacific and president of Nabisco in both Mexico and Venezuela. He was graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelor's of science degree in mechanical engineering. Eduardo Solorzano, currently COO of Wal-Mex, will replace Castro-Wright as president and CEO of the division. Solorzano, 47, joined Cifra, the predecessor company to Wal-Mex, in 1985, holding a variety of operations, merchandising and logistics positions before becoming COO in 2003. Wal-Mart's choppy holiday season sales were marked by an incredible performance of dexterity that pulled a lackluster start of the season to a 3 percent gain in sales at stores open longer than a year, the company reported Thursday. This story was supplied by CBSMarketWatch. For further information see www.cbsmarketwatch.com.
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