Poor result

Home Depot notched up sales of US $ 20.3 bn (€ 15,4 bn) in the fourth quarter of 2006. This amounts to growth of 4 per cent compared with the same period of the previous year. However, retail sales went down by 2 per cent to US $ 17.4 bn (€ 13.2 bn), or 6.6 per cent in like-for-like terms. HD Supply, the wholesale segment, grew by 64.4 per cent to US $ 2.9 bn (€ 2.2 bn) over this period through company acquisitions. Net profit dropped by 18 per cent to US $ 925 bn (€ 711 bn).
For the 2006 financial year Home Depot has disclosed sales growth of 11.4 per cent to US $ 90.8 bn (€ 69.2 bn). An increase of 2 per cent to US $ 79.0 bn (€ 60.1 bn) was achieved in the retail business. Net sales went down by 2.8 per cent like-for-like. HD Supply ended the year 2006 with US $ 12.1 bn (€ 9.2 bn), which amounts to sales growth of 161.6 per cent. Net profit dropped over the previous year's figure by 1.3 per cent to US $ 5.76 bn (€ 4.38 bn).