Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, on Wednesday reported a 21 per cent rise in second-quarter profit boosted by sales at its warehouse club chain "Sam's Club". For the quarter to July 31, profit rose to $2.44bn compared with $2.02bn the previous year.

Income from continuing operations at the Arkansas-based company increased by 14.7 per cent to $2.28bn meeting analyst expectations. Total sales for the second quarter rose to $62.6bn from $56.3bn last year.