Office Depot Loss Narrows; Revenues Disappoint

Updated

Retailer Office Depot (ODP) reported Tuesday that it managed to narrow its second-quarter net loss to $18.7 million, or 7 cents a share, from a loss of $82.6 million, or 31 cents a share, in the year-ago period, as it cut operating costs by 8%. Analysts had expected a loss of 17 cents, according to Thomson Reuters. Before preferred dividend, Office Depot lost $9.5 million, compared to $82 million last year.

Revenues decreased about 4% to $2.7 billion from $2.8 billion, and were slightly lower than analysts' expectations of $2.74 billion. Comparable store sales in the 1,132 stores in the U.S. and Canada that have been open for more than one year decreased 1% for the second quarter, compared to the prior year period.

"Our second quarter operating results exceeded our expectations due to strong execution in North American Retail, North American Direct and the International Division," said CFO Mike Newman. "We're pleased that these results include year-over-year gross profit margin improvement, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of such improvement."

Office Depot shares jumped nearly 5% in premarket trading.

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