Company News: Home Depot to focus on business improvements
The Home Depot Inc., the world’s largest home improvement store chain, said Wednesday it will pump $2.2 billion into improving its business this year even as it expects lower earnings and slim sales growth, partly because of a continued slump in the housing sector.
The Atlanta-based company announced its priorities and outlook just before convening its annual investor conference.
Home Depot said that for fiscal 2007 it expects sales growth in the range of flat to an increase of 2 percent, a decline in sales at stores open at least a year in the middle single-digit percentages and an earnings per share decline of 4 percent to 9 percent.
Including the effect of a 53rd week in its fiscal year, consolidated sales are expected to increase by 1 percent to 2 percent, and earnings per share are expected to decline by 3 percent to 8 percent, Home Depot said.
“Car rental company Hertz Global Holdings Inc. on Wednesday said it would cut 1,350 more jobs “to eliminate unnecessary layers of management.”
The announcement came almost two months after Hertz said it would cut 200 jobs to boost competitiveness.
The latest reductions will be primarily in the company’s U.S. car rental operations, with much smaller cuts in U.S. equipment rental operations, the corporate headquarters in Park Ridge, N.J., and the U.S. service center in Oklahoma City, as well as in Canada, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand, the company said.
“Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc.’s profit shot up more than fivefold in the fourth quarter from a year ago amid a resurgence across its businesses which range from magazines and TV shows to home fashions.
Martha Stewart Living on Wednesday also projected revenue for the current year above analysts’ forecasts.
Its shares rose 48 cents, or 2.66 percent, to close at $18.53 on the New York Stock Exchange. They have traded in a 52-week range of $14.76 to $23.21.
Martha Stewart Living said it earned $16.21 million, or 31 cents per share, for the three-month period ended Dec. 31, compared to $2.95 million, or 6 cents per share, in the year-ago period.
Revenue rose 15 percent to $97.04 million from $84.64 million in the year-ago period.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected earnings of 25 cents per share on $95 million in revenue.