Office Depot Sales Fall
November 03 2015 - 11:20AM
Dow Jones News
Office Depot Inc., still awaiting regulatory approval of its
merger with rival Staples Inc., saw sales slide in its third
quarter as currency headwinds, store closures and a declining
market in the face of an increasingly digital workplace dented
results.
Total reported sales for the quarter declined 9% to $3.7
billion.
North American retail, Office Depot's biggest segment by sales,
slipped 6.8% to $1.6 billion, hurt by store closures. Same-store
sales climbed 3%.
Sales in the North American business solutions unit fell 5.5% to
$1.43 billion in the period. Revenue in the international division
tumbled 19% to $648 million, hurt by foreign exchange volatility.
In constant currency, the fall was a less pronounced 5%.
Overall, the company posted a profit of $6 million, or 1 cent a
share, down from $29 million, or 5 cents a share a year earlier.
Excluding certain expenses that include the after-tax impact of
pending acquisition costs and international restructuring charges,
adjusted earnings were 16 cents, up from 10 cents.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters forecast per-share adjusted
earnings of 16 cents on revenue of $3.73 billion.
Earlier this year, the watchdog American Antitrust Institute
expressed concerns over the planned $6.3 billion merger with
Staples, a deal that was also scrapped nearly 20 years ago amid
concerns that consumers would face higher prices with less
competition.
Last month, Staples and Office Depot said they have agreed to a
Federal Trade Commission decision to extend its review of the deal
by nearly two months. The companies said a decision from the FTC
was now expected by Dec. 8.
The planned merger, unveiled in February, would take the U.S.
down to one chain of office-supply superstores from three in just a
couple of years. The FTC waved through Office Depot's acquisition
of OfficeMax in 2013.
Shares of Office Depot were up 2 cents to $7.50 in recent
trading.
Write to Ezequiel Minaya at ezequiel.minaya@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 03, 2015 11:05 ET (16:05 GMT)
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