Sears Closes Book on ’92 With $3.93-Billion Loss : Retailing: Unusual one-time charges combine with red ink to give the company the worst results in its 106-year history.

Saddled with more than $5 billion in one-time charges, struggling Sears, Roebuck & Co. on Tuesday reported a $3.93-billion loss for 1992--largest in the retailer’s 106-year history.

The loss puts a red-ink coda on a year of change for Chicago-based Sears, which was the nation’s largest retailer in 1991 but now trails Wal-Mart and Kmart.

Last month, Sears announced plans to cut 50,000 jobs, close 113 stores and kill its “Big Book” catalogue. In October, Sears said it would focus on its retail and insurance core by spinning off its Dean Witter brokerage and Coldwell Banker residential real estate units.

The $5.48 billion in unusual charges detailed Tuesday primarily reflect the cost of a major overhaul of Sears’ retail operation and the discontinuation of its nostalgia-laden catalogue, the blow from Hurricane Andrew to its Allstate insurance subsidiary and the impact of new rules on how to account for the future retirement health benefits for current employees and retirees.

But even without the one-time charges, Sears’ retail business had a tough 12 months. The retail operation reported sharply lower profit on slightly higher revenue, which Sears blamed on disappointing results from its scandal-plagued automotive repair business and on lower overall profit margins because of above-average promotional and clearance markdowns.

“The merchandising group was weaker than we thought and Allstate was stronger than we thought, X-ing out the hurricane,” said N. Richard Nelson Jr., a retail analyst with the Duff & Phelps investment firm in Chicago.

The results build anticipation for what Sears’ new merchandising group chief executive, Arthur C. Martinez, might unveil on Thursday when he meets with Wall Street stock analysts in New York. Analysts generally have applauded Sears’ cost-cutting moves but remain unpersuaded that Sears has a compelling plan to lure back the customers it lost in the 1980s to discounters and specialty retailers.

Although 1992 was Sears’ “most difficult” year, Chairman and Chief Executive Edward A. Brennan called it “a pivotal year as well.”

“We embarked upon a new corporate strategy that focuses on our core businesses of retail and insurance as we divest some of our financial services units,” Brennan said.

Sears stock closed down 12.5 cents at $49.375 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Walter Loeb of New York-based Loeb Associates said he expects Sears to continue cost-cutting and to develop strategies for responding quickly to consumer demand.

“Appliance sales and sales of other hard products have been the company’s strength,” Loeb said. “The company has to place a greater emphasis on apparel and find ways to attract consumers to its clothing line.”

For the year, Sears reported a $3.93-billion loss, or $10.72 per share. Without the unusual items and accounting charges, Sears would have reported a $1.55-billion loss in 1992. In 1991, Sears posted net of $1.28 billion, or $3.71 a share.

Times staff writer George White contributed to this story.