Staples’ 2010 profit forecast lags analysts’

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – Staples Inc., the world’s largest office-supply retailer, forecasts a full-year profit lower than analysts estimate and says fourth-quarter profit declined 18 percent, Bloomberg News reported last week.
Excluding restructuring charges, Staples predicts profit for the current year of $1.23 to $1.33. Analysts estimate $1.40, on average, in a Bloomberg survey.
Staples is paying down debt and reducing interest costs more slowly than some analysts expected, according to Scott Tilghman, an analyst at Hudson Square Research in New York. Net interest expense will be at most $235 million this year, the Framingham, Mass.-based retailer said in a statement. Tilghman had predicted $170 million.
Net income dropped to $233.9 million, or 32 cents a share, in the quarter ended Jan. 30 from $286 million, or 40 cents, a year earlier, the company said. Earnings excluding some items were 38 cents a share, compared with the 39-cent average estimate of 18 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. •