Hurricanes hurt Office Depot sales
Retailer lowers forecast in wake of storms
The recent hurricanes in the US have comnbined with slow sales to prompt Florida-based retailer Office Depot to lower its forecasts for the year.
The company, which owns the Viking Direct business, said that European sales were notably below expectations in August in its catalogue operations and in the recently-acquired Guilbert contract business.
In its North American retail business, back-to-school sales have also been well below expectations.
Bruce Nelson, Office Depot’s chairman and chief executive said: “Although we have not completed the third quarter, a number of factors indicate that we will not meet consensus expectations for the current quarter or the year.
“Revenues in the quarter have not met our expectations across all three of our business units. In addition, we have sustained unexpected costs and lost sales from the impact of three major storms and the contingency planning for a fourth storm, Hurricane Ivan.
“A significant portion of the company’s North American revenue base comes from the areas impacted by the recent storms, and our global headquarters in Delray Beach, Florida, was closed for four business days.”
