Anyone with a name like Charlie Brown should know how to plow forward against
tough odds. And Charles Brown, the new chief financial officer of Delray Beach,
Fla.-based Office Depot Inc., would make the Peanuts gang proud. Brown says he
has no intentions of wilting under the pressure of a slowing economy as the
company looks to keep its title as the world?s largest office-supply retailer.
Value Architect
Calling himself the architect around driving shareholder value, Brown, who was
promoted to CFO last month after a three-year stints as the company's
controller, says a slowing economy won?t derail the $11.6 billion company's
plans of building more stores, expanding internationally and boosting its Web
initiatives.
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My priority is to restore the confidence of the external markets in our brand
and in our ability to grow shareholder value, Brown says. Sales have
softened, and that has made our plans more challenging, but we are still looking
for ways to grow this company even in these difficult times.
For the third quarter, revenue slipped 1% from a year ago to $2.8 billion, with
$58 million of the decline linked to the Sept. 11 attacks. And though the
company reported a 23% jump in profits to $62.5 million for the period, it
warned that fourth-quarter results could suffer because of the slowing economy.
But Brown's unfazed. We?re in a fantastic position, he says. We
have somewhere around $540 million [of free cash flow] on our balance sheet, and
our accounts receivables and our inventories are in the best condition they have
been in the last three to five years.?
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