Sears Profil Falls 47%

Hoffman Estates, Ill. Sears Holdings Corp. Thursday said fourth-quarter profit tumbled 47%, due to poor performance at its Kmart and U.S. Sears stores.

The company said earnings dropped to $426 million from $811 million a year ago. Revenue slipped to $15.07 billion from $16.18 billion.

The performance was in line with Wall Street forecasts after the ailing company warned last month that eroding sales might push its profit down as much as 57%. Sears Holdings, which is searching for a chief executive and seeking to reorganize its operations, warned in mid-January that quarterly profit would decline.

“Given the challenging retail environment, we will work to improve and tighten management of costs and inventory levels in 2008," said W. Bruce Johnson, Sears Holdings' interim CEO and president.