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St. Louis Front Page P.O. Box 1354 St. Louis, MO 63188 Voice: 314-771-0200 Fax: 314-771-0300 To submit news, contact: editor@slfp.com To advertise, contact: advertising@slfp.com  |
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 The Home Depot to Invest $4 Billion in Stores, Technology, Employees and Merchandising ST. LOUIS, MO, (Newstream), January 19, 2003 - The Home Depot, the world's largest home improvement retailer, has announced that during fiscal 2003 it will increase capital spending 21 percent to $4 billion to enhance the customer shopping experience and reinvigorate sales performance. The company provided its outlook at its annual analyst meeting in Atlanta. The Home Depot said it expects to deliver sales growth of between 9 and 12 percent, and earnings growth of between 9 and 14 percent in the coming year. The Home Depot also expects to open 200 stores and add 40,000 associates in fiscal 2003. The company also confirmed its current estimates of 10 percent sales growth and 21-23 percent earnings growth for the fiscal year ending February 2, 2003 on an adjusted 52-week basis. "We have embarked on a transformation of The Home Depot from a young, decentralized business toward a more mature and balanced company with predictable and sustainable growth potential," said Bob Nardelli, chairman, president & CEO of The Home Depot. "These changes are the logical transition following Home Depot's success over the past 23 years as the fastest retailer in history to exceed $50 billion in sales." "In fiscal 2002, the transformation produced many positive results at The Home Depot, which are evident in margin expansion, better product assortments, earnings growth, strong cash flow and a 20 percent dividend increase. While necessary, the level of change has proven to be disruptive, putting pressure on our sales performance," Nardelli continued. "Over the coming year, we will increase our investment in our associates, existing stores, and new information systems. At the same time, we will be focused to preserve and enhance the customer experience while accomplishing these necessary changes." The Home Depot said it expects to launch a $250 million store remodeling program in the coming year. Executive Vice President and CFO, Carol Tome, said that spending for 2003 on store level initiatives, remodels and technology will be $880 million, or 22 percent of the $4.0 billion capital spending budget. At the end of December 2002, The Home Depot operated 1,502 retail outlets, including 1,340 Home Depot stores in the United States, 89 Home Depot stores in Canada, and 12 Home Depot stores in Mexico. The company also operated 52 EXPO Design Centers, 5 Home Depot Supply stores, 3 Home Depot Landscape Supply stores, and one Home Depot Floor Store. Merchants Challenging Visa and MasterCard In Debit Card Lawsuit ST. LOUIS, MO, (Newstream), January 19, 2003 - Debit or Credit? It may seem like a question at the checkout counter offering consumers a convenient choice but it's exactly the opposite. Visa and MasterCard hope to steer consumers into pressing the "credit" button for a debit transaction and signing for their purchase because it means increased profits for them and their member banks. It also means higher prices for all consumers. Here's how the debit card deception works: If a consumer chooses debit and punches in their secret PIN for a $100 purchase, the transaction costs merchants about 15 cents. But if a consumer signs a debit receipt instead, the transaction fee soars to more than $1.50. And that signature debit transaction (sometimes called off-line debit) is much slower and much more prone to fraud. The hidden cost difference gave MasterCard, Visa and their member banks approximately $6 billion in excess profits this year alone in the form of overcharges to merchants. Consumers should be careful when they use debit cards so that they don't get fooled into making a choice that ends up adding, what is, in effect a hidden tax of roughly two percent on every purchase. Five million merchants from the Consumer Federation of America, National Retail Federation and National Retail Federation are now challenging Visa and MasterCard in federal court and demanding that they change their practices. The lawsuit will not end up pulling debit cards out of the hands of consumers but it will give merchants and consumers the proper choice to use on-line PIN debit. Until this case is resolved, consumers using their debit cards should make an informed choice and not be fooled into signing for a slower, more fraud-prone transaction, especially one that ultimately costs everyone more. Getting Out of Debt and Losing Weight Tie As the Top Priority for Most Americans ST. LOUIS, MO, (Newstream), January 12, 2003 - For the first time ever, the same percentage of Americans (29%) say getting out of debt and losing weight and exercising more are their top New Year's Resolutions, according to the Cambridge Consumer Credit Index. In January 2002, 30% of Americans said losing weight and exercising more was the most important thing they could do, closely followed by 28% who said paying down debt was most important. The percentage of Americans wanting to improve their personal relationships dropped from 13% in 2002 to 11% this year. The percentage of those wanting to stop smoking and drinking, on the other hand, rose from 8% in 2002 to 11% this year. These findings are the result of monthly nationwide telephone poll of 1000+ adults conducted by ICR/International Communications Research, sponsored by The Debt Relief Clearinghouse. "The results of Cambridge Consumer Credit Index indicate that the $1.7 trillion in debt consumers are carrying has become such a burden that the same percentage of consumers now consider getting out of debt equally important to the perennial favorite New Year's Resolution of losing weight and exercising more," says Jordan Goodman, spokesperson for the Index. The overall Cambridge Consumer Credit Index dropped by nine points in January to 58, as an enormous drop in expectations for taking on debt in the next month outweighed a large increase in debt taken on in the last month filled with holiday gift-buying. The "Reality Gap," which is the difference between the amount of debt consumers say they will pay off in the next month compared to the amount of debt they actually pay off a month later, doubled to10 percentage points, widening the gap between intentions and reality. A month ago, 69% planned to pay off debt, while a month later only 59% actually did so. The Cambridge Consumer Credit Index is a forward looking economic indicator gauging consumer spending and debt. It is released on the fifth business day of every month to coincide with the Federal Reserve Board's G19 release of consumer credit outstanding data. In conjunction with the Index, the Cambridge Credit Counseling Corp., is releasing its monthly survey of people who have called in for credit counseling services over the past month. Cambridge representatives ask callers for the primary reason that they found it necessary to get help with their debts now. Of the 1084 people who answered, this was the order of their responses:
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