Office Depot 3Q Sales Down, Income Up
Delray Beach, FL–Office products giant Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), which mails the Viking Office Products catalog, reported sales of $2.8 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 29, down 1% from the comparable quarter of 2000. Comparable sales in its 824 stores and 40 delivery centers worldwide decreased 2% for the quarter. Worldwide Web sales grew 60% for the quarter, however, to $402.0 million. Despite the dip in overall revenue, Office Depot improved its bottom line 19%, posting net income of $62.5 million for the quarter, up from $50.6 million a year ago.
Black Box Bottom Line Up 6% for Quarter Pittsburgh–Computer networking products and services provider Black Box Corp. (Nasdaq: BBOX) suffered a 6% drop in third-quarter revenue. For the three months ended Sept. 30, sales totaled $197.0 million, compared with $210.0 million a year ago. But net income for the quarter rose 6%, to $17.1 million from $16.2 million last year. Black Box attributes its income gains to the phone and technical support services it offers in countries such as Italy, Belgium, France, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The company estimates that the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 cost it $3 million-$4 million in sales.