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To: AK2004 who wrote (115903)	11/6/2000 12:33:52 PM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

Office Depot warns, blames PC's and peripherals: Office Depot sales in negative territory Trading stops after 4Q warning, then plunges By Jennifer Waters, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 12:13 PM ET Nov 6, 2000 NewsWatch Latest headlines DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (CBS.MW) - Office Depot Inc. shares plunged better than 12 percent Monday after the office supply retailer said sluggish sales will pull same-store sales into negative territory in the fourth quarter. Most recently, shares were down $1 to $6.63. Trading was halted for about 20 minutes in early trading. Office Depot (ODP: news, msgs) said October and November sales trends were so poor that it expected stores open for more than a year to report sales in the negative mid-single digit. It's not surprising that sales are slow, but it is that they are down so significantly across the board. During its second-quarter conference call in July, Office Depot said it expected the fourth-quarter sales to be flat. On Monday, the retailer said North American sales are much worse than expected and that higher warehouse costs are eating into any profit making. "While we are seeing some softness in many categories," CEO Bruce Nelson said in a statement, "comparable sales performance in our North American retail stores continues to be impacted by weakness in desktops, laptops, monitors and printers, and the related 'market basket' of higher margin goods historically linked to purchases of these items." If the pattern continues, Nelson added, and then is coupled with what is expected to be a tough competitive landscape for technology products during the holidays, "we would expect to see further pressure on earnings from ongoing operations." Office Depot has been undergoing an extensive business review of its operations that it expects to report in January, according to the press release. The company also said that it is reorganizing its call center, which will result in a $2 million charge in the fourth quarter for severance and asses disposal. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jennifer Waters is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com.