US- Staples' Q4 income dives 72%

(MENAFN) Staples Inc. stated that its net income plunged by 72 percent in the fourth quarter to USD78.1 million, from USD283.6 million in the same period a year earlier, reported AP. During the period ended February 2, the office products firm's revenue grew 3 percent to USD6.57 billion, up from USD6.37 billion, benefiting from an extra week in the quarter. However, when excluding that week, the Framingham, Mass.-based company's revenue declined 4 percent. It added that sales for the North American stores and online segment went up by 3 percent. In the mean time, revenue at stores open at least a year declined 5 percent, as a result of sluggish traffic and flat average order size. It noted that online sales grew 7 percent, and fell 1 percent when excluding the extra week. It is worth noting that Staples posted USD210.7 million full-year loss, compared with a profit of USD984.7 million in the year before, whereas revenue slipped 1 percent to USD24.38 billion from USD24.66 billion.