2/4/2010
From staff and wire reports
The CEO of Exide Technologies says that Wal-Mart’s decision to discontinue selling Exide auto batteries is a significant near-term loss for the company, but he hopes not one that’s permanent.
Exide officials acknowledged Wednesday a notice from Wal-Mart that it has decided to use a supplier other than Exide. The same day, officials at Johnson Controls Inc., an Exide competitor, announced that Wal-Mart had selected their company to solely supply automotive, marine, powersport and lawn and garden batteries for sale at its stores in the United States and Puerto Rico.
Gordon A. Ulsh, Exide chief executive officer, said in a press release that he thinks that the phase-out of orders from Wal-Mart will continue into the third quarter of fiscal 2011. He said the company is aggressively pursuing sales opportunities to minimize the effect of Wal-Mart’s decision.
Ulsh said, “While we hope that we’ll have an opportunity to regain some or all of this business in the future, we are optimistic that we can take steps to minimize the long-term impact associated with this transition. The transportation battery segment remains highly competitive, and we will continue our efforts to offer the best products and distribution network to current and future customers.”


Read the rest of this story in Friday's Salina Journal.

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