Home Depot profit slumps on US housing weakness

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ATLANTA, Aug 14 (Reuters): Top home improvement retailer Home Depot Inc (HD.N) reported a 15 per cent fall in second-period profit Tuesday as sales fell short of expectations amid the softer US housing market.
The company still expects per-share profit to decline as much as 18 per cent this year and reiterated that it was in talks that could lower the price or possibly derail the sale of its HD Supply wholesale business.
Earnings fell to $1.59 billion, or 81 cents a share, in the second quarter ended on July 29, from $1.86 billion, or 90 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding discontinued operations, earnings for the latest period were 77 cents a share, better than the 72 cents expected by analysts, according to the news agency's estimates.
Sales fell 1.8 per cent to $22.18 billion, below the $22.3 billion analysts expected. Sales at stores open at least a year fell 5.2 per cent. The average purchase fell 2.8 per cent to $58.30.
In June, the retailer announced an agreement to sell the supply division, which provides materials to home builders and other contractors, to private equity groups for $10.3 billion. But Home Depot announced last week that the deal was being renegotiated.
The supply business, accounted for as a discontinued operation, had earnings of $66 million, or 3 cents a share, in the second quarter, down from $161 million, or 8 cents a share, a year earlier. But including a tax charge of about $60 million, the unit's adjusted earnings for the latest quarter were $126 million.