Loss of earnings for Sears

The American Sears Holdings Corporation, which operates the Sears and Kmart department store chains, has announced a 3.3 per cent drop in sales to US $ 11.548 bn (€ 7.848 bn), or -4.6 per cent like-for-like, for the third quarter of the current 2007 financial year. Net earnings plunged by 98.9 per cent on the comparable period last year to US $ 2 mio (€ 1.4 mio). The group announced sales for the first nine months down by 3.4 per cent to US $ 35.489 bn (€ 24.117 bn). Net earnings went down by 58.8 per cent over the same period to US $ 394 mio (€ 268 mio).