Kmart has made its first quarterly profit since bouncing back from Chapter 11 last May.
However, the retail giant is still struggling to make a significant impact on shoppers, with like-for-like sales continuing to slide.
The Michigan-based store group revealed that net income was US$276 million (£149.9 million) for the fourth quarter of 2003, compared with a loss of US$1.1 billion (£597.4 million) for the same period in 2002. However, comparable store sales were down 13.5 per cent, and total sales plunged 25.8 per cent.
Kmart president and chief executive officer Julian Day said: 'The men and women of the new Kmart are focused on managing our business to restore profitability.
'By giving careful thought to the processes of sourcing, logistics, pricing, inventory management and in-store presentation, we have significantly improved the profitability of our market basket.
'Offering our customers superior products supported with value, convenience and service - in a way that allows Kmart to generate profitable sales - will support the continued investment in our business to better serve customers in future.'
Kmart also revealed figures for the 39 weeks to January 28, 2004. Net income was US$248 million (£134.7 million), compared with a net loss of US$1.8 billion (£977.6 million) for the year before.
Like-for-like sales decreased by 9.5 per cent for the period, compared with last year.
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