• Q4 2016 GAAP Diluted EPS from Continuing Operations of $0.10 versus $0.06 in Q4 2015
• Realizes $700 Million in OfficeMax Integration Synergies
• Completes Sale of European Business

BOCA RATON, Fla., 2017-Mar-06 — /EPR Retail News/ — Office Depot, Inc. (“Office Depot,” or the “company”) (NASDAQ: ODP), a leading global provider of office products, services, and solutions, today ( March 1, 2017) announced results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2016.

“I am very excited to assume the role of CEO and to inherit a business with such positive earnings trends. Office Depot delivered another year of improved profitability in 2016, exceeding the full-year adjusted operating income guidance, despite experiencing substantial business disruption related to the Staples acquisition attempt,” said Gerry Smith, newly appointed chief executive officer of Office Depot. “The company made significant progress against its 2016 critical priorities and achieved substantial integration synergies, thanks to the hard work, commitment and dedication of the management team and associates. I believe we can continue this momentum in 2017, as we focus on stabilizing the top line, implementing our cost saving programs and executing on the key initiatives of the three-year strategic plan.”

Consolidated Results

Reported (GAAP) Results

Total reported sales for the fourth quarter of 2016 were $2.7 billion compared to $2.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015, a decrease of 2%. Sales for the full year 2016 were $11.0 billion, a decline of 6% compared to the prior year. Fourth quarter and full year sales benefited from the impact of a 53rd week in fiscal 2016 of approximately $143 million.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, Office Depot reported operating income of $57 million and net income of $80 million, or $0.15 per diluted share. Net income from continuing operations was $55 million, or $0.10 per diluted share. The fourth quarter of 2016 was favorably impacted by approximately $15 million of operating income from the additional 53rd week, primarily in the North American Retail Division.

In the fourth quarter of 2015, the company reported operating income of $42 million and net income of $15 million, or $0.03 per diluted share. Net income from continuing operations was $31 million, or $0.06 per diluted share.

For the full year 2016, Office Depot reported operating income of $531 million compared to operating income of $183 million in the prior year period, and net income from continuing operations of $679 million, or $1.24 per diluted share in 2016, compared to net income from continuing operations of $92 million, or $0.16 per diluted share in the full year 2015.

Adjusted (non-GAAP) Results (1)

Adjusted operating income for the fourth quarter of 2016 was $111 million compared to an adjusted operating income of $83 million in the fourth quarter of 2015. Adjusted net income from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of 2016 was $59 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, compared to adjusted net income from continuing operations of $35 million, or $0.06 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2015.

• Adjusted operating income for the fourth quarter of 2016 excludes special charges and credits totaling $55 million, which were comprised of $30 million in restructuring charges, $13 million in expenses related to the Office Depot/OfficeMax merger, $6 million in non-cash asset impairment charges and $6 million in executive transition costs.
• Adjusted net income from continuing operations in the fourth quarter of 2016 excludes the after-tax impact of these items.

For the full year 2016, adjusted operating income was $471 million, compared to adjusted operating income of $438 million in the full year 2015. The full year 2016 adjusted net income from continuing operations was $251 million, or $0.46 per diluted share, compared to adjusted net income from continuing operations of $222 million, or $0.40 per diluted share in the full year 2015.

Sale of European Business

As previously announced on September 23, 2016, Office Depot reached a deal to sell its European business and the sale was successfully completed on December 31, 2016. Following the closing, the company’s European business is no longer part of the company’s ongoing operations. See the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) Current Report on Form 8-K filed on January 5, 2017 for additional information.

The company’s international businesses located in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and mainland China continue to be actively marketed for sale and are reported as discontinued operations, with the expectation that the divestiture process will be completed in 2017. The company currently plans to retain its sourcing and trading operations in Asia and the results for these operations are reported as an “Other” segment outside of the North American segments. These ongoing sourcing and trading businesses contributed $18 million in sales and $1 million in operating income for the full year 2016.

Corporate Results

Corporate includes support staff services and certain other expenses that are not allocated to the company’s operating divisions. Unallocated expenses increased to $31 million in the fourth quarter of 2016 compared to $21 million in the fourth quarter of 2015 driven primarily by executive transition costs and the impact of the 53rd week of approximately $3 million.

Balance Sheet and Cash Flow

As of December 31, 2016, Office Depot had $0.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents and approximately $1.0 billion available under the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, for total available liquidity of approximately $1.8 billion. Total debt was $387 million, excluding $798 million of non-recourse debt related to the credit-enhanced timber installment notes.

For the full year 2016, the company generated $492 million of cash provided by operating activities of continuing operations, including the $250 million Staples termination agreement fee, partially offset by $122 million in acquisition-related expenses, $113 million in OfficeMax merger–related costs and $47 million in restructuring costs. Capital expenditures were $111 million in 2016, $27 million of which were related to the merger integration. Free cash flow(2)from continuing operations for the full year 2016 was $380 million.

Office Depot paid a quarterly cash dividend of $0.025 per share on December 15, 2016 for approximately $13 million. For the full year, the company paid approximately $26 million in dividends.

During the fourth quarter, the company repurchased approximately 14 million shares at a total cost of $51 million. As of December 31, 2016, Office Depot had repurchased approximately 37 million shares in 2016 at a total cost of $132 million, with $118 million remaining available for repurchase under the current $250 million buyback authorization.

Outlook (3)

Office Depot expects total company sales in 2017 to be lower than 2016, primarily due to the impact of store closures, prior year contract customer losses, one less selling week and continued challenging market conditions. However, the company expects the rate of sales decline to improve throughout 2017 based on improvements in customer retention, implementation of new customer wins and continued growth in the contract channel sales pipeline.

The company closed 123 retail stores in 2016, of which 72 stores were part of the second phase of the retail optimization plan announced in the third quarter of 2016. The company expects to close approximately 75 stores in 2017.

Through the end of 2016, Office Depot has achieved over $700 million in annual synergy benefits from the OfficeMax integration. The company continues to expect total annual run-rate merger synergy benefits of more than $750 million, with the majority of the remaining benefits expected to be achieved by the end of 2017. Merger integration expenses are expected to total approximately $45 million in 2017 with approximately $25 million in capital expenditures.

As part of the new cost saving program announced last year, the company expects to deliver over $250 million in annual benefits by the end of 2018 with about half of those benefits anticipated to be realized in 2017. In addition, the company estimates it will incur up to approximately $125 million in one-time costs and capital expenditures to implement the cost saving programs, with the majority of these costs incurred through 2017.

The company continues to expect to achieve approximately $500 million in adjusted operating income in fiscal 2017, a comparable year-over-year increase of about 10%, excluding the $15 million estimated 53rd week operating income benefit in 2016.

In 2017, capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $200 million including investments to support the company’s critical priorities and the Store of the Future test format. The company anticipates having about 100 stores converted to this new format by the end of 2017. Depreciation and amortization is expected to be approximately $150 million in 2017.

Office Depot anticipates free cash flow(2) from continuing operations to be more than $300 million in 2017.

The company anticipates an estimated cash tax rate of 15% as the company continues to utilize available tax operating loss carry forwards and credits and a non-GAAP effective tax rate of approximately 41% in fiscal 2017, dependent on the mix and timing of income.

(2) Free cash flow is defined as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures.

(3) The company’s outlook for 2017 included in this release, excludes charges or credits not indicative of our core operations, which may include but not be limited to merger integration expenses, restructuring charges, asset impairments, and other significant items that currently cannot be predicted. The exact amount of these charges or credits are not currently determinable, but may be significant. Accordingly, the company is unable to provide equivalent reconciliations from GAAP to non-GAAP for these financial measures.

About Office Depot, Inc.

Office Depot, Inc. is a leading global provider of products, services, and solutions for every workplace – whether your workplace is an office, home, school or car.

The company had annual sales of approximately $11 billion, employed approximately 38,000 associates, and served consumers and businesses in North America and abroad with approximately 1,400 retail stores, award-winning e-commerce sites and a dedicated business-to-business sales organization – with a global network of wholly owned operations, franchisees, licensees and alliance partners. The company operates under several banner brands including Office Depot, OfficeMax and Grand & Toy. The company’s portfolio of exclusive product brands include TUL, Foray, Brenton Studio, Ativa, WorkPro, Realspace and HighMark.

Office Depot, Inc.’s common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “ODP.”

All trademarks, service marks and trade names of Office Depot, Inc. and OfficeMax Incorporated used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Office Depot, Inc. and OfficeMax Incorporated, respectively. Any other product or company names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This communication may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements or disclosures may discuss goals, intentions and expectations as to future trends, plans, events, results of operations, cash flow or financial condition, or state other information relating to, among other things, Office Depot, based on current beliefs and assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. Forward-looking statements generally will be accompanied by words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “plan,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “guidance,” “intend,” “may,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “propose” or other similar words, phrases or expressions, or other variations of such words. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of Office Depot’s control. There can be no assurances that Office Depot will realize these expectations or that these beliefs will prove correct, and therefore investors and stockholders should not place undue reliance on such statements.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, among other things, impacts and risks related to the termination of the Staples acquisition, disruption in key business activities or any impact on Office Depot’s relationships with third parties as a result of the announcement of the termination of the Staples Merger Agreement; unanticipated changes in the markets for Office Depot’s business segments; the inability to realize expected benefits from the disposition of the European operations; fluctuations in currency exchange rates, unanticipated downturns in business relationships with customers or terms with the company’s suppliers; competitive pressures on Office Depot’s sales and pricing; increases in the cost of material, energy and other production costs, or unexpected costs that cannot be recouped in product pricing; the introduction of competing technology products and services; unexpected technical or marketing difficulties; unexpected claims, charges, litigation, dispute resolutions or settlement expenses; new laws, tariffs and governmental regulations. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. Investors and stockholders should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in Office Depot’s Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Office Depot does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

Contact:
Richard Leland
561-438-3796
Investor Relations
Richard.Leland@officedepot.com

Karen Denning
630-438-7445
Media Relations
Karen.Denning@officedepot.com

Source: Office Depot, Inc.