Home Depot is to axe 800 jobs at its Atlanta support centre and enforce a five-day-a-week office return for corporate employees as part of a restructuring plan. The home improvement retailer stated it is simplifying its corporate operations to better support stores and customers, aiming to drive greater agility and maintain closer connections with frontline associates.
Affected employees will receive severance packages, transitional benefits, and job placement support. The job cuts come amid a challenging US housing market, with rising unemployment and high property prices dampening demand. Despite easing interest and mortgage rates, Home Depot projects a larger profit drop for fiscal 2025 and reported its third consecutive quarter missing profit expectations.
For the three months ended 2 November, Home Depot posted net earnings of $3.6 billion, or $3.62 per share, down from $3.65 billion a year earlier. Adjusted earnings per share of $3.74 fell short of Wall Street forecasts of $3.84. Revenue rose to $41.35 billion from $40.22 billion, exceeding analyst expectations.
CEO Ted Decker attributed the miss to a lack of storms in the third quarter, which placed greater-than-expected pressure in certain categories, and noted that an anticipated increase in demand did not materialise. He added that consumer uncertainty and housing market pressures are disproportionately impacting home improvement demand. Home Depot shares fell more than 3 per cent in pre-market trading, while rival Lowe’s dipped over 2 per cent ahead of its own quarterly report.
