Home Depot to spend US$1b more on employees as sales surge

[ATLANTA] Home Depot said on Tuesday it would spend about US$1 billion more annually on employees' compensation as the home improvement chain benefits from a sustained surge in demand for tools, paint and building materials.

Demand has jumped since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic as people stuck at home, with limited options for travel or leisure activities, spend more of their discretionary income on minor home remodeling and repair work.

To compensate employees working through the health crisis, Home Depot was providing temporary weekly bonuses and more hours of paid time off. The company on Tuesday said it will change some of those programmes to permanent additional compensation.

Net earnings rose to US$3.43 billion, or US$3.18 per share, from US$2.77 billion, or US$2.53 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts had expected a profit of US$3.06 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Overall net sales jumped 23.2 per cent to US$33.54 billion, beating analysts' average estimate of US$32.04 billion.

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REUTERS