Home Depot takes off

Home Depot, the world’s biggest DIY and home improvement retailer, is widening the gap to its competitors and to second-placed Lowe’s. In the 2012/2013 fiscal year (to 3 February 2013) the market leader notched up sales of US $ 74.754 bn, or 6.2 per cent more than the previous year. The like-for-like rate of increase amounted to 4.6 per cent for all 2 256 stores, including those in Canada and Mexico. The stores in the USA recorded a like-for-like increase of 4.9 per cent. It must be said that these rates of increase are partly down to the recent financial year having numbered 53 weeks. Even if this is left out of the calculation, though, the increase still comes to 4.5 per cent. Like other American DIY retailers, the company profited from the fact that many Americans had to repair their homes after Hurricane Sandy. As a result, Home Depot’s sales in the fourth quarter, which consisted of 14 weeks instead of the previous year’s 13, accelerated upward by 13.9 per cent to US $ 18.246 bn. The like-for-like increase was 7.0 per cent overall and 7.1 per cent in the USA. The increase came to 6.3 per cent excluding the 14th week.