May Quarterly Profit Drops 36% on Charges

May Department Stores Co. reported a 36% drop in quarterly earnings because of charges for combining some operations.

May, which operates 436 department stores, said net income for its fiscal first quarter ended May 4 fell to $70 million, or 23 cents a diluted share, from $109million, or 34 cents, a year earlier.

The latest results include a $40-million pretax charge for the previously announced combination of the Kaufmann’s division with the Filene’s department stores and Meier & Frank with Robinsons-May.

Excluding charges, the company reported earnings of $95million, or 31 cents a share. Analysts on average expected a profit of 31 cents a share.

May shares fell 30 cents to $34.72 on the NYSE.