The Home Depot Inc. (Atlanta) has announced a 27 percent drop in consolidated net earnings for its fourth quarter ended Feb. 3, 2008.
Sales gained 1.5 percent during the quarter, but the struggling home-improvement retailer noted that the fourth quarter of 2008 consisted of 14 weeks compared with 13 weeks for the prior year, adding approximately $1.1 billion in sales for the quarter and the year. Excluding the 14th week, fourth quarter sales declined by 4.7 percent. Same-store sales declined 8.3 percent.
For fiscal 2007, consolidated earnings decreased 15.1 percent and sales were down 2.1 percent. Same-store sales dropped 6.7 percent.
“This was a difficult year financially, but I believe the progress we made on our key priorities set the foundation for the long-term health of our company,” said chairman and ceo Frank Blake, completing his first year at the head of the company. “We see the home improvement market in 2008 as challenging, but we are going to continue to focus on our five priorities and build on the progress we made in 2007.”
The company said it is expecting a 4 -5 percent drop in total sales in 2008, with negative comps in the mid to high single-digit range. It has budgeted $2.3 billion in capital expenditures and expects to open 55 new stores and relocate five stores.