Home Depot to axe hundreds of jobs under restructuring plan

Home Depot is projecting a bigger profit drop for fiscal 2025 in its latest earnings

Home Depot is cutting 800 jobs at its Atlanta support centre and mandating a five-day-a-week office return for corporate employees.

“We’re simplifying our corporate operations to better support our stores and our customers,” the spokesperson for the home improvement giant said.

“Our goal is to drive greater agility and position the company to move faster and stay even more closely connected with our frontline associates.”

Those affected will be offered separation packages, transitional benefits, and job placement support.

This move comes as the U.S. housing market faces choppy demand due to rising unemployment and high property prices.

Easing U.S interest and mortgage rates have failed to aid a recovery, with Home Depot projecting a bigger profit drop for fiscal 2025 in its latest earnings.

The business also suffered from more anxiety among consumers and a housing market that is in a deep funk.

Home Depot is asking its corporate employees to return to the office five days a week (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

The company lowered its fiscal 2025 adjusted earnings forecast but raised its expectations for sales growth.

For the three months ended 2 November, Home Depot earned $3.6 billion, or $3.62 per share. A year earlier, it earned $3.65 billion, or $3.67 per share.

Removing one-time charges and benefits, earnings were $3.74 per share, a dime short of Wall Street expectations, according to a poll by FactSet.

It is the third consecutive quarter that Home Depot, an overperformer in recent years, has missed profit expectations.

Home Depot's stock declined more than 3 per cent before the opening bell on Tuesday. Shares of rival Lowe's, which will report its quarterly results on Wednesday, fell more than 2 per cent.

“Our results missed our expectations primarily due to the lack of storms in the third quarter, which resulted in greater than expected pressure in certain categories,” CEO Ted Decker said in a statement.

“Additionally, while underlying demand in the business remained relatively stable sequentially, an expected increase in demand in the third quarter did not materialize.

“We believe that consumer uncertainty and continued pressure in housing are disproportionately impacting home improvement demand.”

Revenue for the Atlanta company rose to $41.35 billion from $40.22 billion, topping Wall Street projections of $41.15 billion.