Sears Holdings Corp

Eight years after getting out of cosmetics business, Sears is jumping back in, banking that the high-margin sector can give the retailer a much-needed profit boost. The flagship brand of Sears Holdings Corp. is opening full-service beauty counters at 13 Sears stores in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York this week. The goal is to roll out the beauty business to 100 locations next year and, if all goes well, expand to as many as 400 of its 852 Sears department stores by 2012, said Andrea Goldner, Sears' merchandise manager for cosmetics.

Sears Holdings Corp., the biggest U.S. department store company, said fiscal fourth-quarter profit plunged 47%, and Chairman Edward Lampert vowed to rein in costs and cut inventory. Net income dropped to $426 million, or $3.17 a share, in the three months that ended Feb. 2, the Hoffman Estates, Ill.- based company said. A year earlier, profit was $811 million, or $5.27 a share. Sales in the quarter declined 6.8% to $15.1 billion. "I'm not sure that there's anybody out there who says, 'Sears or Kmart is my favorite place to shop,' " said David Keuler, a money manager at Mason Street Advisors.

Home furnishings and gift retailer Restoration Hardware Inc. spurned Sears Holdings Corp.'s $4.55-a-share offer for the company, saying it was not superior to Catterton Partners' offer of $4.50 a share. Department store retailer Sears had submitted its offer Thursday, the last day of a 35-day period for Restoration to solicit competing offers. Sears made a $6.75-a-share offer in November for Restoration, based in Corte Madera, Calif., but later withdrew it as Restoration's shares fell.

Minutes after securing final approval for combining Kmart and Sears last year, Edward Lampert pledged to transform the two faded retail icons into "a great company." But he didn't offer any blueprint for how he'd do it. Twelve months later, approaching Friday's anniversary of the unlikely pairing that created Sears Holdings Corp., industry experts are still trying to figure out just what the billionaire chairman has in mind for the struggling store brands.

With only 129 shopping days left until Christmas, the Sears and Kmart chains are trying to entice customers to start saving for the holidays early with a Christmas Club card program. Shoppers who join the program can add money on a regular basis to their cards and receive a 3% reward, up to a $100 value, based on the value of the balance Nov. 14. The card is free, available in stores and online and must be activated by Oct. 31 to be eligible for the 3% reward. Shoppers will need a minimum balance of $5 to use their cards.

Struggling retailer Sears Holdings Corp. said its fourth-quarter profit was cut in half as charges weighed down results and shoppers continued to avoid buying pricey appliances -- keeping sales mired in their prolonged slump. Chairman Edward Lampert, who acquired Kmart in 2003 and Sears, Roebuck and Co. in 2005, told investors that the company's cautious approach to investing capital in stores and closing unprofitable locations -- 28 during the fiscal year and 24 more that were announced Thursday -- while paying down debt has helped the chain.

Sears Holdings Corp. reversed a year-ago loss and posted a profit of $26 million for its first quarter as it worked to manage inventory in its stores. The results amounted to a profit of 21 cents a share, which is markedly better than a year earlier, when the retailer led by financier Edward Lampert lost $56 million, or 43 cents. Excluding one-time items, the company said it earned $47 million, or 38 cents, for the three months that ended May 2. Sales fell more than 9% to $10.06 billion.

Sears Holdings Corp. abruptly announced the departure of President and Chief Executive Aylwin B. Lewis on Monday, leaving a management void at the top of the department store chain controlled by Chairman Edward S. Lampert. The change comes as the company tries a high-stakes restructuring to reconnect with customers and reinvigorate slumping sales. Lewis, 52, who also resigned from the board, was an executive at fast-food chain Yum Brands Inc.

Sears Holdings Corp. will install safety brackets on its stoves in millions of households or offer gift cards in settling an Illinois class-action lawsuit over the appliances' supposed propensity to topple. Under an agreement signed off on last month by a Madison County judge, Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears will offer to fix all brands of its free-standing or slide-in kitchen ranges in as many as 3.9 million homes by bolting them to a wall or floor.

Battered retailer Sears Holdings Corp. posted its largest quarterly loss Thursday since Sears and Kmart combined three years ago, providing surprising results far below Wall Street forecasts. The company said it lost $56 million, or 43 cents a share, in its first quarter as it fought for shoppers and cut prices to clear merchandise from store floors. That is a dramatic reversal from the retailer's year-earlier profit of $223 million, or $1.45 a share. "It was a pretty ugly quarter," said Morningstar analyst Kim Picciola.