BEIJING — Home Depot's international division is providing the company some cheer in an otherwise gloomy holiday season.

Nine percent of the Atlanta-based company's revenues and 11 percent of its operating profits last quarter came from foreign stores in Canada, Mexico and China, Annette Verschuren, Home Depot's president for Asia and Canada, said in an interview Monday.

Craig Simons/Cox News Service (ENLARGE)

A huge Christmas tree rises above the new Beijing location.

Craig Simons/Cox News Service (ENLARGE)

Chinese shop Monday for Christmas decorations at a newly opened Home Depot store in Beijing.

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Verschuren said the figures "tell us that our international organization is critical to growth."

It was the first time the company has provided figures for international sales. Executives would not comment on whether profits earned by Home Depot outside of the United States had increased.

The release of the data comes as Home Depot is suffering from fallout in the slumping U.S. housing market. On Nov. 13, the company reported a 27 percent drop in third-quarter earnings and lowered its financial forecast for the year.

"There's no question that the housing market is giving our U.S. stores some challenging times and it's great to see that Canada and Mexico and China are contributing," Verschuren said at ceremony to celebrate the first Christmas season for 12 newly opened stores in China.

Home Depot bought the stores last year from Chinese chain Home Way. Since a formal opening last August, sales at the Chinese locations have "exceeded our expectations," Verschuren said. She declined to say whether the stores had been profitable but said that Home Depot is "investing a lot" in China.

Analysts expect that in the short term, Home Depot's business in China will be hampered by intense competition, low family incomes and high distribution costs.

"With the number of people moving into apartments in China over the past few years, (home improvement stores) should have made fortunes, but nobody has because of the low, low prices and the lack of profit margins," said Paul French, a Shanghai-based economist with Access Asia, a consulting firm.

B&Q, a home improvement chain that is a subsidiary of the Britain-based Kingfisher Group, entered China in 1999, but "have only begun to see a dribble of profits," he said.

Verschuren acknowledged that price competition in China is fierce but said that sales have grown steadily since August and the company plans to expand its business over time.

"This is the beginning of an economy that's going to become strong," she said in August. "It's going to be slow ././. but we see big opportunity here."

The company has also had to adjust to the Chinese business practice of suppliers demanding to sell directly to customers. Many of Home Depot's Chinese vendors require the company to allow sales staff hired by the suppliers themselves to work in the stores, compromising customer service.

To deal with the problem, Home Depot plans to increase sales of its own product lines - including Hampton Bay lamps and Pegasus bathroom fixtures - and to pressure suppliers to reduce their number of salespeople in stores.

Home Depot takes a long-term view to building profitability in China.

"Chinese are relatively new to home ownership and are learning how important this investment is to their lives," Verschuren said. "We're seeing the beginnings of a do-it-yourself culture."