Dallas, Texas 05/21/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – Office Depot Inc (NYSE:ODP), a front-running international provider of a variety of office products and services, as well as solutions which has been formed by a merger between ODP & OfficeMax in Nov 2013, announced the results for the Q1 that ended 29 March 2014. Office Depot Inc’s chairman and chief executive officer, Roland Smith, said that they are very pleased with their Q1 performance. After the weather-challenged start to 2014, there has been an improvement is sales trends even as the company exceeded its expectations in cost reduction & operational execution. With their new organizational-structure established & the leadership-team now mostly in place, this execution on the critical priorities is now improving.
The synergies
The company is also delivering merger-integration synergies much more quickly than had been anticipated. In that vein, the company has now upped its 2014 full-year guidance for the adjusted operating-income to be not below $160M in comparison to the previous guidance of not below $140 million. Smith also said that one of the critical priorities in 2014 is to now improve the company’s store footprint in NA to meet the customer demand in the best possible way. This will go a long way in ensuring that the company is well-positioned in the markets that it serves.
Preliminary analysis
It will also align with the company’s unique selling proposition that they are developing in 2014. This overlapping retail footprint that results from this merger provides the company with a very unique opportunity to now consolidate & optimize their store portfolio, even as the company maintains retail presence that is required to serve its customers. Based on the preliminary analysis that has been carried out by the company, they expect to close a minimum of 400 locations within the U.S., with its 150 stores scheduled to shutdown in 2014.
