First Quarter Earnings for Home Depot up 16 Percent

ATLANTA - The Home Depot, the world's largest home improvement retailer, today reported first quarter net earnings of $1.2 billion, up 16.3 percent, for the first quarter of fiscal 2005, compared with $1.1 billion for first quarter of 2004.

Sales for the period increased $1.4 billion, or 8.1 percent to $19 billion. Growth in comparable store sales was 2.1 percent.

?EUR??,,????'??Through the hard work and dedication of our 325,000 associates we effectively managed our business, produced solid earnings growth and stayed on strategy,' said Bob Nardelli, chairman, president & CEO.

No. 2 home improvement retailer Lowe's reported yesterday that its earnings rose 31 percent, the most in six quarters, on a sales increase of 14 percent. Its sales have grown an average of 18 percent annually the past five years, compared to 16 percent for Home Depot.

In addition to releasing first quarter earnings Tuesday, Home Depot announced its intent to close 15 EXPO Design Center stores. Further, the company announced plans to convert five EXPO stores to The Home Depot store format.

At the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2005, the company operated a total of 1,911 stores, which included 1,839 The Home Depot stores with 1,674 stores in the United States, 120 stores in Canada, and 45 stores in Mexico. The company also operates 54 EXPO Design Centers, 11 The Home Depot Landscape Supply stores, two The Home Depot Floor Stores and five The Home Depot Supply stores.