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Non-Tech : Staples (SPLS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dale Stempson who wrote (177)	10/26/2000 10:00:58 PM
From: Dale Stempson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 184

STAPLES SEES STRONG GROWTH AHEAD DESPITE SECTOR WOES NEW YORK, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) on Wednesday said it could achieve an earnings per share growth rate of 30 percent for fiscal 2001 despite recent worries that the company is losing its grip on the office products market. Staples, the No. 2 U.S. office products retailer next to Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP), said that the level of earnings growth would come on the back of a 17 percent growth in revenues for the year. In its fiscal year 2000 ended Jan. 29, Staples posted a profit of 68 cents a share and garnered about $8.84 billion in sales. Staples president and chief operating officer Ron Sargent told a group of investors and analysts at the Robertson Stephens Consumer Conference here that the company is also expecting earnings per share growth in the high 20 percent range for 2002 and 2003 on 15 to 17 percent revenue growth. Sargent also dismissed recent worries that Staples' business could be threatened by competition from mass merchants, like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), which has been aggressively expanding into new categories and has expressed interest in the office products sector. Sargent said there are still categories that Staples sees as ripe for expansion, such as the paper category, which he said is a prime target in which the company could gain market share. In addition, John Mahoney, chief administrative officer at Staples, said three other areas of growth that the company is focusing on are its expansion in Europe, the Staples.com Web site, and the company's in-store and online business services. Mahoney said the company is confident about the growth and performance of Staples.com, although the operation has had mounting losses that have weighed on the company's performance and although there have been fears that the site would cannibalize business from physical stores and catalogs.