INDUSTRY NEWS

Home Depot Posts $342 Million Net Profit in Latest Quarter, Brightens Outlook

02/24/2010

ATLANTA -- The Home Depot®, the world's largest home improvement retailer, reported net earnings of $342 million for its fourth quarter of fiscal 2009, on sales of $14.6 billion.

In the fourth quarter, the Company's sales performance was driven by gains in kitchen and bath, paint, flooring and plumbing as well as its international businesses.

"Despite the tough economic environment, we were able to make solid progress against our key initiatives in 2009," said Frank Blake, chairman & CEO. "For the year, we grew U.S. share by more than 100 basis points; we continued to restructure our distribution network, with our Rapid Deployment Centers now serving more than 65 percent of our U.S. store base; and we enhanced overall customer service as measured by third party surveys."

The home improvement giant also said it expects sales to grow by 2.5 percent during the current year, and earnings per share of the company to grow by 15.5 percent.

At the end of the fourth quarter, the Company operated a total of 2,244 retail stores, which included 1,976 The Home Depot stores in the United States (including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands and the territory of Guam), 179 stores in Canada, 79 stores in Mexico and 10 stores in China.