Framingham, Massachusetts-based Staples Inc.’s fiscal third-quarter profit rose 7.9% percent as the second- biggest U.S. office-supplies retailer controlled costs and eliminated lower-profit merchandise.
Net income rose to $91.3 million, or 20 cents a share, from $84.7 million, or 19 cents, a year earlier. Sales in the quarter ended Nov. 3 rose 1.1 percent to $2.83 billion from $2.8 billion, Staples said in a statement distributed by Business Wire.
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Sales at stores open at least a year fell 3 percent as customers bought less in the weeks following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Staples estimated it lost $30 million to $60 million in sales in the week and a half following the attacks.
Staples tried to hold down expenses by hiring fewer people and opening fewer stores as fears of a recession grew stronger in the quarter. The company also has stopped carrying less-profitable computers at some stores and trimmed slow-selling items.
