Staples, Inc.
Industry: Retail (Specialty)

Staples, Inc. is an $11 billion retailer of office supplies, business services, furniture and technology to consumers and businesses from home-based businesses to Fortune 500 companies in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal. Headquartered outside Boston, Staples invented the office superstore concept and today is the largest operator of office superstores in the world. The company has approximately 53,000 associates serving customers through more than 1,400 office superstores, mail order catalogs, e-commerce and a contract business.

Business Summary
Staples, Inc. (Staples) is an office supplies retailer that sells its products through a superstore concept. The Company conducts operations through three segments: North American Retail, North American Delivery and International Operations. The Company sells a wide variety of office supplies and services, business machines and related products, computers and related products, and office furniture. Staples' product offering includes Staples, Quill and other branded products, which represented more than 15% of its total sales during the fiscal year ended January 29, 2005 (fiscal 2004). The Company is also introducing new products, like the One Touch Stapler and Wordlock, under the Staples brand. It also offers an array of services, including high speed, color and self-service copying, other printing services, faxing, and pack and ship services.

Financial Summary
Staples is an office supplies retailer with 1,559 office supply stores (as of 1/04) in the U.S., Canada, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal. SPLS also operates catalog operations, a contract stationery business and e-commerce sites. For the 26 weeks ended 7/30/05, sales rose 13% to $7.37B. Net income rose 24% to $306.6M. Results reflect higher comparable sales, positive impact of exchange rates, and higher margins.