Office Depot Sales Fall

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 [e-mail]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 03, 2015 11:05 ET (16:05 GMT)

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