Home Depot 2012 Annual Report Download - page 4

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Additionally, we have begun the development of new distribution centers and the enhancement of
existing facilities to support direct to customer fulllment, which we expect to complete over the
next two years.
These efforts have built on our strength in home improvement product authority, and we had positive
customer transactions, as well as growth in our average ticket.
DISCIPLINED CAPITAL ALLOCATION
We have a disciplined and balanced approach to capital allocation, investing to maintain and improve
the health of our business. We are committed to returning excess cash to our shareholders in the form of
dividends and share repurchases. In 2012, we repurchased a total of $4 billion or 74 million shares of
outstanding stock. We have also announced an increase in our quarterly dividend to $0.39, or an annual
dividend of $1.56, a 34 percent increase. This is consistent with our targeted dividend principle of
paying out approximately 50 percent of net earnings in dividends. We also authorized a new $17 billion
share repurchase program, which replaced the previous program. Our goal is to use this authority by the
end of 2015. Since 2002, we have repurchased approximately one billion shares, returning more than
$37.5 billion of cash to shareholders.
INTERCONNECTED RETAIL
In 2012, we upgraded our online platform, enhancing the site’s visual appeal and functionality. Our
mobile applications have been downloaded over three million times, and we have more than 600,000
skus through our Home Depot and our Home Decorators Collection sites.
We continue to enhance and improve our Buy Online, Pick-up In-Store, and Buy Online, Return
In-Store programs, and we are now rolling out a Buy Online, Ship-to-Store program. Each of these
capabilities improves our customers’ overall shopping experience with us. We are also adding new
capabilities to simplify and improve the customer experience for installation projects with our online
tool MyInstall.
INTERNATIONAL
Our business in Canada had positive comparable store sales for every quarter of the year and is gaining
share in the Canadian market. In Mexico, we opened our 100th store during the year and also continued
the Mexican team’s consistent record of performance, with 37 quarters of positive comparable store
sales in a row. We closed our seven big box stores in China during the year. After several years of
effort, we concluded that we could not make that format protable there.
2013
We believe our business is well positioned as the U.S. housing market continues on a path to recovery.
For 2013, we will continue our efforts to improve our customer service and provide compelling values.
I hope as you spend time in our stores, on our website or on our mobile applications you will see
continued improvement.
Francis S. Blake
March 28, 2013