Sport Chalet Inc

Capping years of efforts to turn itself around, La Canada-based Sport Chalet Inc. said Tuesday that it logged record profit in its latest fiscal year. With longtime employees gathered outside the company's flagship store at the foot of Angeles Crest Highway, officials announced that the sporting goods chain recorded $143 million in sales and $3.2 million in net income, both company milestones, during the 12 months ended March 31.

Capping years of efforts to turn itself around, La Canada-based Sport Chalet Inc. said Tuesday that it logged record profit in its latest fiscal year. With longtime employees gathered outside the company's flagship store at the foot of Angeles Crest Highway, officials announced that the sporting goods chain recorded $143 million in sales and $3.2 million, or 49 cents a share, in net income, for the 12 months ended March 31. The results are company milestones.

Some companies shouldn't have public shareholders. Sport Chalet Inc. is probably one of them. Almost from the day the company made its initial public stock offering on Nov. 19, 1992 at $9.25 each, the price of the shares has been falling. At $3.125 today, the stock has lost two-thirds of its value. Worse, the investors who bought the 1.6 million shares that Sport Chalet offered generally weren't big institutions for whom a two-thirds loss on a single stock is a minor annoyance.

Sport Chalet Inc. of La Canada Flintridge reported a first-quarter loss of $4.5 million, or 32 cents a share, compared with a loss of $664,000, or 5 cents, a year earlier. Sales decreased 4.8% to $87.1 million. Sales at stores open at least a year, a key measure of retail health, fell 11.1%. The company said same-store sales were hurt by the slowing economy and increased competition.

Talk about a succession plan. Sporting goods retailer Sport Chalet Inc. proposed Tuesday a recapitalization plan that would shift most of founder Norbert Olberz's 65% stake to the company's top two officers -- for free. Based on Tuesday's closing price, the value of the shares given to Chairman and Chief Executive Craig Levra and Chief Financial Officer Howard Kaminsky would be more than $60 million. "It was my idea. Nobody talked me into it," Olberz said.

Sport Chalet Inc., the La Canada-based sporting-goods retailer, said an unseasonably cold spring and higher advertising and labor costs in its fiscal first quarter contributed to its first quarterly loss in nearly seven years. The firm lost $593,000, or 1 cent a share, compared with a profit of $84,000, or 1 cent, in the same period a year ago. Sales in the quarter ended June 30 rose 4.1% to $53.3 million, thanks to the opening of two new stores.