Home on the Range

The Home Depot (Atlanta), the world's largest home improvement retailer, reported record second quarter net earnings and a 10.5 percent sales increase. Same-store sales increased 2.2 percent.

“The Home Depot's transformation continues to gain traction,” said chairman, president and ceo Bob Nardelli. “Our customers are responding to our store reinvestment strategy, which is delivering better, cleaner, brighter stores and more new and innovative products.

“In the second quarter we had 350 million customer transactions,” Nardelli said. “The majority of our selling departments posted positive comparable sales, and we reported the highest second quarter average ticket in our company's history. Our financial results in the second quarter are proof positive that our transformation is working.”

Nardelli said the performance report, which came the day after rival Lowe's (Wilkesboro, N.C.) also reported strong second quarter results, “allows us to stay on strategy through continued investment in our stores.” During the second quarter, The Home Depot opened 39 new stores.

The retailer also reaffirmed its fiscal 2003 guidance for sales growth between 9 and 12 percent.