Weak sales lead to 4.6 decrease in OfficeMax 3Q sales
Naperville-based OfficeMax Inc. said continued weak sales in its retail and contract segments resulted in a 4.6 percent delcine in third quarter 2013 sales.
Total sales were $1.,6 million in the third quarter of 2013, as compared to $1.7 in the third quarter of 2012. For the third quarter of 2013, OfficeMax reported operating income of $66.8 million compared to operating income of $33.5 million in the third quarter of 2012; and net income available to OfficeMax common shareholders of $30.4 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, compared to $433.0 million, or $4.92 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2012.
“In the third quarter, we continued to experience soft sales overall and weak margins within our Contract business, due to a competitive global environment,” said Ravi Saligram, President and CEO of OfficeMax. “However, through our strategic initiatives, we continue to lay the foundation for evolving our business model. We believe that these initiatives, in combination with the anticipated annual cost synergies from our pending merger with Office Depot, will position the combined company well for success.”
OfficeMax completed its merger with Florida-based rival Office Depot this week after it was cleared by federal regulators on Nov. 1.
Retail segment sales in the third quarter of 2013 decreased 4.7 percent to $823 million, compared to the third quarter of 2012, reflecting a same-store sales decrease on a local currency basis of 2.8 percent primarily due to decreased traffic and lower technology product category sales. The decrease reflected a U.S. Retail operations same-store sales decrease of 2.8 percent, and a Mexico retail operations same-store sales decrease of 2.2 percent on a local currency basis.
Contract segment sales decreased 4.4 percent, compared to the prior year period to $841.9 million in the third quarter of 2013. The decrease reflected a U.S. contract operations sales decrease of 3.6 percent and an international contract operations sales decrease of 6.5 percent in U.S. dollars. The U.S. contract performance reflects weaker sales to existing corporate accounts.