By Katherine Hamilton

ODP shares fell after the office supplies company said it plans to pivot away from its retail business.

The stock was down 19% to $15.46 Wednesday, at one point hitting a 52-week low of $13.44. It is down 75% over the past year.

The parent company of Office Depot and OfficeMax said it is pivoting to focus on business to business operations, and plans to intensify that work moving forward, Chief Executive Gerry Smith said. That includes expanding beyond office supplies.

It signed a contract to be the preferred supplier of a hotel management company. ODP also is launching warehousing and fulfillment services to support "one of the world's leading social media-driven e-commerce platforms," it said.

To pay for this pivot, ODP plans to realign the company and reallocate capital to prioritize B2B growth. It is suspending growth investments in its retail segment and optimizing its store footprint.

ODP posted a loss of $3 million, or 10 cents a share, in the 13 weeks ended Dec. 28, compared with a loss of $37 million, or 96 cents a share, the year prior.

Stripping out one time-items, adjusted earnings per share were 66 cents, below Wall Street's expectations of 80 cents a share.

Sales fell about 10% to $1.62 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $1.61 billion.

Smith said weak macroeconomic trends, subdued consumer spending and severe weather affected ODP's 2024 performance.

Write to Katherine Hamilton at katherine.hamilton@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 26, 2025 10:41 ET (15:41 GMT)

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