Scant Increases for Staples

Fourth-quarter sales for Framingham, MA-based catalog/retailer Staples grew 1%, to $5.3 billion for the three months ended Feb. 2. Fourth-quarter sales from its North American Delivery Business, which includes the Staples and Quill catalog and online businesses as well as the Staples contract delivery business, rose 4%.

The office supplies merchant’s North American retail sales fell 4%, and same-store sales slipped 6%. Fourth-quarter net income fell 1%, to $333 million from $336 million.

For fiscal 2007, sales increased 7%, to $19.4 billion, up from $18.2 million in fiscal 2006. Sales for its North American Delivery Business jumped 12% while North American retail sales inched up 1%. Online sales rose 14%, to $5.6 billion. Net income increased 2.3%, to $996 million from $974 million.