OFFICE DEPOT PROFIT DECLINES…………

[Anonymous]

Office Depot Profit Declines on Lower U.S. Sales
Feb.08–
Office Depot Inc., the world’s second-largest office-supplies retailer,
said fourth-quarter profit fell more than analysts estimated as small
businesses and consumers in the U.S. and Canada curbed spending.Office
Depot fell the most in more than two months in New York trading.Net
income declined 85 percent to $18.8 million, or 7 cents a share, from
$126.6 million, or 45 cents, a year earlier, Office Depot said today in
a statement. Excluding one-time costs and gains, profit missed
analysts’ estimates by 7 cents.Revenue rose less than 1 percent to
$3.87 billion. Office-supply retailers’ sales slowed as customers
scaled back purchases of copiers and desks while U.S. employment
declined for the first time in more than four years. Office Depot,
whose revenue growth trails that of larger Staples Inc., may have hurt
sales by focusing on cost cuts, said Scott Tilghman, an analyst at
Soleil Securities Corp.“There’s been an overemphasis on cost and an
underemphasis on selling,” Tilghman said by telephone from Baltimore
on Feb. 22. He recommends holding Office Depot shares and doesn’t own
any.Office Depot, based in Delray Beach, Florida, dropped $1.20, or 8.4
percent, to $13.07 at 10:07 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite
trading. The stock rose 2.6 percent this year before today. It lost
almost two-thirds of its value last year.Excluding some costs, Office
Depot earned 10 cents a share. Fifteen analysts predicted profit of 17
cents a share, on average, according to a Bloomberg survey. Ten
analysts estimated sales of $3.81 billion.The retailer also said Chief
Financial Officer Patricia McKay will leave March 1. Kim Maguire, the
executive vice president of merchandising, will also leave at the end
of February “for personal reasons.”Charles Brown, the president of
Office Depot’s international division, will serve as interim finance
chief following McKay’s departure. He was CFO from 2001 to 2005. 

[Author]

February 26, 2008 at 12:04 PM