Office Depot Posts In-Line Q2 Earnings

reported in-line earnings for the second quarter on Tuesday. The Boca Raton, Florida-based company posted a quarterly net loss of $58 million, or $0.11 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $190 million, or $0.36 per share. Its adjusted earnings came in at $0.06 per share. Its sales slipped 10 percent year-over-year to $3.44 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.06 per share on revenue of $3.48 billion. Its same-store sales at North American retail division gained 1 percent for the quarter. International Division sales shrank 20 percent to $0.7 billion in the second quarter. Office Depot posted an operating loss of $51 million, versus an operating loss of $185 million in the year-ago quarter. As of June 27, 2015, the company had $867 million in cash and cash equivalents. "In the second quarter we significantly improved operating income versus last year, primarily due to continued excellent execution on our merger integration, synergies and efficiencies, and positive same-store sales growth," said Roland Smith, chairman and chief executive officer for Office Depot. "While total company sales declined compared to prior year, driven primarily by planned store closures and foreign currency translation, continued success in the consolidation of our U.S. retail store portfolio and increased operational effectiveness drove positive quarterly same-store sales growth for the first time in many years." For the full year, Office Depot continues to project sales to be lower than 2014. Office Depot shares fell 1.25 percent to close at $7.90 yesterday.