Staples Inc posted a 14 percent fall in quarterly profit, hurt by weak sales of furniture and computers, and said it will not give outlook for 2009 due to uncertain economic conditions.

For the quarter ended January 31, the world's largest office products retailer posted net income of $286.0 million, or 40 cents a share, compared with $333.2 million, or 47 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding charges related to the Corporate Express acquisition, the company earned 36 cents a share.

Revenue rose 16 percent to $6.17 billion. Excluding sales from Corporate Express, revenue fell 14 percent in the quarter.

Analysts were expecting the company to earn 42 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $6.79 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

Shares of Staples, which competes with OfficeMax Inc and Office Depot Inc , were down 5 percent at $15.00 in trading before the bell.

(Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bangalore; Editing by Anne Pallivathuckal)