Little upside seen for ailing OfficeMax; Bust-up may be best hope for shareholders.(Markets)

Crain's Chicago Business, April, 2005

Byline: SANDRA JONES Whether or not K Capital Partners LLC succeeds in its push to break up OfficeMax Inc., the nation's third-place office products retailer faces dim prospects. The Itasca-based firm trails No. 1 Staples Inc. and No. 2 Office Depot Inc. in revenues, sales per square foot and total number of stores.

Its operating profit margin at the stores was less than 1% last year, compared with 8.2% at Staples and 6.6% at Office Depot. Competition in the $160-billion U.S. office products market will only intensify, with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. angling for a bigger share. "OfficeMax isn't likely to actively make a run to win back marketshare,'' says Daryl Boehringer, an office products analyst at Cleveland-based FTN Midwest Securities Corp. "In a...

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