Atlanta, GA, Mar. 17-Home Depot expects to meet its sales target for 2003 despite the prospect of a U.S. war against Iraq.
"We don't know what the impact of war will be on consumer spending," CFO Carol Tome said, "Nothing has changed our view on the target that we set to grow our sales 9% to 12%."
Tome said that Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli's "first focus is on topline growth".
Home Depot posted a 2% decline in sales for its fourth quarter as sales at stores open at least a year fell 6%.
Home Depot is revamping its business amid growing competition from Lowe's, which is expanding to many large U.S. markets where Home Depot has an established presence.
Tome, who arrived at Home Depot in 1995, said the retailer had taken a number of steps to boost sales, including putting more full time staffers on the selling floor.
Last year Home Depot increased its part time staff, which did not work out because of high turnover among the newer workers.
Now, "we're about 60% full time, 40% part time and that seems to be the right mix," Tome said.
Home Depot is also spending $250 million to remodel many of its older stores. About 45 stores are getting a total overhaul, which can take up to 15 weeks to accomplish. Other stores will get new product assortments, such as more fashionable kitchens and bath hardware.
The retailer cited expected disruption from the store overhaul when it lowered its sales target for this year. Previous long term growth targets were 18% to 20% for earnings and 15% to 18% for sales.
Tome said centralizing purchasing, a key change that Nardelli made last year, had cut costs.
"At one time we had 11 different buying offices," Tome said. "When we centralized merchandising, we realized that we were paying for the same products at different prices."
