For the first quarter, ODP Corp, which operates the Office Depot and OfficeMax superstore chains, posted earnings and revenues that surpassed Wall Street expectations.
Adjusted for one-time events, income from continuing operations was $64 million, or $1.27 per diluted share, versus $68 million, or $1.22 per diluted share, in the year-previous period, the company stated.
ODP Corp. topped a MarketBeat-published analyst consensus estimate for adjusted earnings per diluted share of 79 cents and for sales of $2.13 billion.
Net sales were $2.18 billion versus $2.17 billion in the year-earlier quarter, the company noted. Operating income was $76 million versus $69 million in the period a year prior.
Retail division sales were $943 million, down 9% versus the period a year before, ODP Corp. maintained, with the decline primarily due to 114 fewer retail outlets in operation at the end of the first quarter versus the period in the previous year. The company closed six retail stores in the quarter and had 1,032 stores at the period’s end. Stronger sales-per-shopper and strong omnichannel sales in the quarter supported by the company’s 20-minute pick-up guarantee offset lower traffic trends. Operating income of $89 million was down 11% versus the year-earlier quarter.
“Our team’s continued commitment to the core tenets that drive our business helped us deliver strong results while making progress on all of our initiatives to unlock shareholder value,” said Gerry Smith, ODP Corp. CEO in announcing the financial results. “We again delivered solid operating performance against a macroeconomic backdrop that continues to be challenged by supply chain constraints, higher fuel prices, and inflation, as we utilized the strength of our distribution network and pricing flexibility to help offset some of these market dynamics. We’re encouraged by the improving back-to-the-office trends that are helping us drive stronger operating performance in our contract channel, while our consumer business continues to execute well against its strategy, leveraging its highly focused store and digital presence to deliver solid results in the quarter. Overall, our strong execution across the business, combined with our commitment to our low-cost model approach, enabled us to deliver $88 million in adjusted operating income.”
Smith added that the company continues to progress in regard to its strategic initiatives, “including our commitment to maximize the value of our consumer business and our efforts to align our assets with the go-to-market strategies in our B2C, B2B, distribution, and digital platform businesses. We’re advancing our new digital platform business, Varis, receiving positive feedback from key build partners as we move closer to a broader launch of the platform later this year. We’re also excited about the progress we are making on our supply chain and purchasing services provider, Veyer, and the future value we expect to create in support of our B2B and B2C businesses and as we offer logistics services to other third parties in the future. As we move closer to concluding the strategic initiatives we previously outlined, we remain committed to maximizing the value of our consumer business and driving growth on our B2B platform. We also continue to expect our results this year to be generally in a range consistent with the prior year on a comparable basis.”
