K mart’s 4th-Quarter Net Off 17.8%

K mart Corp. on Thursday reported a 17.8% decline in fourth-quarter earnings from the year-ago period. Despite the downturn, the nation’s second-largest retailer had record profits for its 1984 fiscal year.

For the 53 weeks ended Jan. 30, K mart earned a record $499.1 million, up 1.4% from the $492.3 million earned in the 52 weeks ending Jan. 25, 1984, the company said.

Fiscal 1984 revenue was $21.1 billion, 13.4% higher than the $18.6 billion in fiscal 1983.

Earnings in the 14 weeks ended Jan. 30 totaled $204.3 million, compared to earnings of $248.6 million in the 13 weeks ending Jan. 25, 1984.

Revenue for the period totaled $6.9 billion, up 21.6% from the $5.7 billion in the comparable period the year before.

High inventories and efforts to clear discontinued items from store shelves brought about heavy markdowns and lower-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter, said Bernard M. Fauber, chairman of the Troy, Mich.-based company. “Despite the lower earnings, the quarter was the second highest in the company’s history,” Fauber said.

“The record (yearly) figures were achieved despite one of the most severely competitive periods retailers have experienced in decades,” Fauber said. “In addition, major merchandising changes aimed at repositioning K mart created an unusually large buildup of clearance merchandise.”

The reporting period covering most of 1984 contained an extra week compared to the year before because 1984 was a leap year, according to K mart spokeswoman Barbara Palazzolo.