Better than expected

Home Depot completed the third quarter of its 2012/2013 fiscal year (to 28 October 2012) with sales of US $ 18.1 bn. That is an increase of 4.6 per cent on the comparable period last year. The world’s biggest home improvement chain also saw growth in like-for-like terms, which amounted to 4.2 per cent overall and 4.3 per cent on the home market in the USA. The cumulative result for the first three quarters comes to US $ 56.508 bn and growth of 3.7 per cent. The third-quarter results, which were better than the company expected, “reflect in part what we believe is the start of the path toward the healing of the housing market,” said Frank Blake, chairman and CEO of Home Depot.