Office Depot Inc. said Tuesday it lost $1.54 billion in the fourth quarter as hefty charges for a restructuring that included facility closings and job cuts and sharply lower sales weighed on the office supply chain.

The loss was much larger than analysts expected, and Office Depot shares tumbled 19 cents, or 13 percent, to close at $1.26, after hitting an all-time low of $1.02 in intraday trading.

Office supply chains have seen sales slump as customers, especially small-business owners, cut spending.

"We are disappointed with the fourth-quarter results," Chief Executive Steve Odland said on a conference call with analysts. "As these times have gotten tough for our customers, they have significantly cut back their spending, including their spending on office products."

Office Depot said its loss amounted to $5.64 per share for the three months ended Dec. 27, in contrast to a profit of $18.8 million, or 7 cents per share, a year ago.

Results were hurt by goodwill and impairment charges of $4.54 per share and a charge of 37 cents per share for its strategic business review. The charges included costs to close certain facilities, cut jobs, and write down assets. Office Depot also recorded expenses to increase reserves on credit cards and other receivables.

As previously announced, Office Depot is closing about 9 percent of its North American stores and cutting 2,200 jobs while planning to open fewer locations next year.

Standard & Poor's retail analyst Michael Souers said he favored the company's plans to close stores and cut back on expenses, but still expects consumer spending will worsen this year.

"While we think Office Depot has enough near-term liquidity to weather a recession, earnings visibility is extremely low," Souers said.

Adjusted to reflect charges, Office Depot said it lost $199 million, or 73 cents per share, in the latest quarter.

Boca Raton, Fla.-based Office Depot said sales fell 15 percent to $3.27 billion from $3.87 billion a year ago. Sales in the company's North American retail division declined 17 percent, and revenue slipped 15 percent internationally.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open for more than a year, dropped 18 percent at locations in the U.S. and Canada.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who generally exclude one-time items, forecast a loss of 6 cents per share on sales of $3.47 billion.

Chuck Rubin, the company's president of its North American retail, said sales of big-ticket items, such as computers, printers and televisions, slowed "dramatically" in the fourth quarter. Rubin told analysts on the conference that performance has improved in the first quarter.

Rubin said the company plans to close 118 stores this year, which includes store closings already announced in December, when the company said it will close 112 locations.It will open about 15 new stores in 2009, down from the 20 announced in December and about half what it initially planned.

"We would prefer not to open new stores this year, but we have lease commitments which were pushed out from 2008 that require us to open within a set period of time," Rubin said.

For the year, the company posted a loss of $1.48 billion, or $5.42 per share, compared with profit of $395.6 million, or $1.43 per share, a year ago. Sales fell to $14.5 billion from $15.53 billion a year earlier.