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Empresas y finanzas

Corrected: Staples profit up, but taxes bite outlook


    Corrects full-year outlook view of analysts, 14th paragraph

    DETROIT (Reuters) - STAPLES (SPLS.NQ)Inc reported a higher quarterly profit, meeting expectations, and said it expects a modest economic recovery during the rest of the year.

    However, the top U.S. office products retailer trimmed the high end of its full-year earnings outlook as expectations for a higher tax rate outweighed the economic outlook and the resumption of share buybacks.

    Many investors look at office supplies retailers as a barometer of economic health since demand for their products is closely tied to white-collar employment rates.

    Staples' smaller rivals, Office Depot Inc and OfficeMax Inc , recently reported quarterly sales that fell short of expectations.

    While Office Depot forecast flat operating profit in the current quarter, which includes the key back-to-school selling season, OfficeMax forecast lower sales.

    In its second quarter, ended July 31, Staples earned $129.8 million, or 18 cents a share, up from $92.4 million, or 13 cents a share, a year earlier.

    Excluding one-time items, it earned 20 cents a share, matching the average forecast of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

    Sales were about flat at $5.53 billion, shy of the $5.64 billion analysts had expected.

    The company said it now expects its tax rate for the third quarter and full year to be 37.5 percent, compared with previous guidance for 34.5 percent, resulting in a full-year impact of about 6 cents a share.

    It said it raised the tax forecast because it no longer expects the U.S. Congress to extend allowances for the deferral of income tax on some foreign earnings.

    The company expects its tax rate to return to 34.5 percent for 2011.

    Staples said it expects full-year earnings of $1.25 to $1.29 a share before one-time items, compared with its previous forecast of $1.25 to $1.33.

    It expects a third-quarter profit of 39 cents to 41 cents a share before one-time items .

    Analysts were expecting $1.33 a share for the year and 43 cents for the third quarter.

    Staples said it expects sales for both periods to rise in the low single-digit percentage range.

    The company also said it resumed its share repurchase program during the second quarter, and it expects to open 25 new stores during the second half.

    (Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit and Dhanya Skariachan in New York; Editing by Derek Caney and John Wallace)