Staples Inc.’s share price up, still to estimate breach losses, reports larger-than-expected quarterly sales and profit

The biggest office-supply chain in the world, Staples Inc., revealed in a filing today that it is not able to “reasonably” estimate the potential losses and expenses it will probably be affected by. The company has recently been faced with difficulties, because of a possible credit-card data breach, which Staples disclosed in October.

According to the filing, the malware, which was used during the attack, was considered to have been identified and eliminated. The investigation of the breach, however, is still at an early stage. The U.S.-based company also added it is collaborating with law enforcement, one of the reasons why it is still not able to calculate the losses caused by the incident.

The announcement comes at a moment when the company has reported its quarterly sales and profit, which exceeded expectations due to increasing demand for core office supplies. Staples revealed that its annual cost savings amounted to more than $200 million, while its same-store sales declined 4% during the third fiscal quarter, which ended on November 1st. The result was in line with analysts projections.

Sales were reported to have increased by 9%. The U.S.-based office-supply chain, which has recently been trying to accelerate its online business growth, stated its net income expanded from $135.2 million, or 21 cents per share, to $216.8 million, or 34 cents a share.

According to the statement, Staples also boosted its annual projection for the free cash flow, saying it is to amount to “more than $800 million”. In comparison, its previous forecast pointed to “more than $600 million”.

At the same time, Staples revealed its intentions to close about 170 stores located in North America this year. The number is larger than the initially planned 140 stores, which were due to be shut.

Staples Inc. was up 9.48% to trade at $13.97 per share as of 15:42 GMT, marking a one-year decrease of 8.93%. The company is valued at $8.22 billion. According to CNN Money, the 15 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Staples Inc. have a median target of $12.00, with a high estimate of $15.00 and a low estimate of $9.00. The median estimate represents a -13.92% decrease from the last price of $13.94.