Office Depot warns on Q2 sales, EBIT margin amid weakening conditions

LONDON Thomson Financial - Office Depot, Inc said weakening business conditions negatively impacted its results in the second quarter and while it expects the economic environment to be difficult over the remainder of the year, it expects its profit margins to improve sequentially in the third and fourth quarters. The office supplies company said North American retail same store sales fell nearly 10 percent in the second quarter from the same period a year earlier and total company sales were down slightly. The company expects its EBIT margin to have declined for the second quarter by 200 basis points more than the 200 to 250 basis point decline previously indicated on a year-on-year basis as sales trends worsened late in the quarter, it said. Office Depot said it is disappointed with its preliminary results driven by a 'very... [read full story]