Hurricanes create sales and expenses for Home Depot

Home Depot estimates that recent hurricanes have had a positive effect on its sales. The company puts the increase of comparable store sales due to hurricane-related sales in the third quarter (ending 29 October 2017) at USD 282 mio. However they report that there have also been hurricane-related expenses to the amount of USD 104 mio. As a result of the hurricanes, the company's operating profit was negatively impacted by approximately USD 51 mio in the fiscal third quarter, according to the quarterly report. "Though this quarter was marked by an unprecedented number of natural disasters, including multiple hurricanes, wildfires in the West, and earthquakes in Mexico, the underlying health of our core business remains solid," says Craig Menear, chairman, CEO and president.
The US and global market leader made sales totalling USD 25.026 bn in the third quarter, an 8.1 per cent increase from the third quarter of fiscal 2016. Comparable store sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2017 were positive 7.9 per cent, and comparable sales for US stores were positive 7.7 per cent. For the first nine months of the financial year, sales add up to USD 77.021 bn, which is a growth of around 6.4 per cent compared to the same period last year.