The ODP Corporation has announced that its Board of Directors completed its review of the public and private non-binding proposals received by the ODP Corporation to acquire its consumer business, including the Office Depot and OfficeMax retail stores business and its direct channel business, officedepot.com. Following the completion of that review, the Board of Directors unanimously determined it is in the best interests of the ODP Corporation and its shareholders not to divest the consumer business at this time. Further, due to current market conditions, the Board also determined not to resume the previously announced potential public company separation at this time and instead to maintain all of its businesses under common ownership. 

“Given current market and macroeconomic conditions, as well as the benefits of maintaining purchasing and supply chain synergies, the Board has determined that now is not the right time to further pursue separating the Company into two independent, publicly traded companies,” said Joseph Vassalluzzo, chair of the Board of Directors of The ODP Corporation. “However, the completion of our internal reorganization will make such a potential separation substantially simpler should the Company determine to resume the separation process following a change of market conditions in the future.”

The ODP Corporation recently completed transforming its operations under its holding company structure into its B2C business and three distinct B2B business and digital segments focused on further enhancing value for shareholders:

  • Office Depot, LLC – a leading provider of retail consumer and small business products and services distributed via approximately 1,000 Office Depot and OfficeMax retail locations and an award-winning eCommerce presence (officedepot.com).
  • ODP Business Solutions, LLC – ODP’s leading B2B solutions provider serving small, medium and enterprise level companies (odpbusiness.com). This includes the contract sales channel of ODP’s prior Office Depot Business Solutions Division; Grand & Toy, operating one of the biggest distribution networks serving customers in Canada coast-to-coast via its direct sales force and best in class e-commerce platform (grandandtoy.com); and the Company’s Federation Entities, which comprise more than a dozen regional office supply distribution businesses acquired by ODP as part of its transformation to expand its reach and distribution network into geographic areas that were previously underserved, and which continue to operate under their own brand names.
  • Veyer, LLC – a world-class supply chain, distribution, procurement and global sourcing operation (veyerlogistics.com). Veyer procures and distributes products for both Office Depot, LLC and ODP Business Solutions, LLC, as well as third-party customers.
  • Varis, LLC – ODP’s B2B digital platform technology business focused on transforming digital commerce between buying organizations and suppliers (govaris.com).

In the press release for the realignment, the ODP Corporation also issued preliminary second quarter 2022 guidance. Anthony Scaglione, executive vice president and chief financial officer of The ODP Corporation shared his thoughts, “Our operating flexibility and balance sheet currently have us well positioned to continue delivering strong results against a macroeconomic backdrop that remains challenged by inflation and supply chain constraints. For the second quarter of 2022, we expect consolidated revenue to be approximately $2.0 billion and adjusted EBITDA in a range of $85 to $90 million. We continue to expect our full-year 2022 results to be in-line with the previous year and will provide more details regarding our operating segment realignment and long-range outlook, including capital allocation and returns, in the coming months.”

Source: Businesswire