Despite a worrisome drop in North American sales, Office Depot, Inc. (ODP) returned to profitability for the first quarter, the office products supplier reported Tuesday.
An increase in adjusted earnings matched analysts' expectations on improved margins, but quarterly revenues missed estimates by a whisker.
"Our first quarter 2012 results showed continued year-over-year earnings improvement despite lower sales. The North American Business Solutions Division delivered a strong performance again this quarter," Chairman and CEO Neil Austrian said in a statement.
The Boca Raton, Florida-based company reported net earnings of $41.29 million or $0.14 per share for the first quarter, compared to a net loss of $14.63 million or $0.05 per share in the prior-year quarter.
The results for the latest quarter include about $23 million of charges on restructuring activities, and about $12 million related to the extinguishment of debt. It also includes a $68 million favorable pension settlement related to a 2003 European acquisition, slightly offset by a $5 million expense related to the settlement.
Excluding such one-time items, adjusted net income for the quarter increased to $13.6 million or $0.05 per share from $0.2 million or breakeven per share in the year-ago quarter.
On average, 17 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.05 per share for the first quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Total company sales for the quarter declined 3 percent to $2.87 billion from $2.97 billion in the same quarter last year, and missed fourteen Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $2.89 billion by a whisker.
North American retail division sales declined 8 percent from last year to $1.22 billion, while comparable store sales in 1,096 stores in the U.S. and Canada decreased 6 percent.
The International division reported a 2 percent decline in sales to $825.5 million, with a positive 1 percent currency impact. Meanwhile, North American business solutions division sales grew 3 percent to $827.7 million from a year ago.
However, gross profit margin for the quarter expanded 120 basis points to 30.7 percent from last year's 29.5 percent, boosted by increases at all of the company's three divisions.
ODP closed Monday's regular trading session at $3.04, down $0.14 on a volume of 5.06 million shares, higher than the three-month average volume of 4.86 million shares. In the past 52-week period, the stock has been trading in a range of $1.75 to $4.84.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Business News
June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.