Sales below expectations
In the last quarter sales rose 3% to 6.56 billion
dollar (5 billion euro), well below the 6.72 billion euro (5.16 billion euro) analysts had expected. Better sales
for tablets, e-readers and printers were largely nullified by lower sales in
computers, digital cameras and software.
Sales of the fourth quarter, which was a week
longer than in the past year, couldn’t save the day: global sales over the last
12 months dropped by 12% to 24.381 billion dollar (18.70 billion euro).
Symptomatic for entire economy
The results of Staples are seen as a kind of
barometer: sales of office supplies are thought to reflect the condition of the
entire economy. If that is right, companies in Europe and North-America are still
feeling the pinch: in North-America comparable sales in the fourth quarter were
lower by 5%, when compared to last year. In Europe the drop was even bigger,
9%.
The profitability of the company was also
disappointing. In the fourth quarter net profits stuck at 78.1 million dollar
(59.92 million euro), compared to 283.6 million
dollar (220 million euro) last year. Over the entire year Staples, even goes below zero: the financial year 2012/2013 closed with a loss of 210.7 million dollar
(160 million euro) – in 2011/12, there still was a profit of 984.7 million
dollar (750 million euro).
This big recline was partially caused by a big
reorganising: staples reduced its physical locations and invested more in
online and mobile sales.
