	k mart km says record net turning point k mart corp said its record fiscal net ings of mln dlrs a rise from mln dlrs a year ago marked a major turning point for the world s second biggest retailer k mart said the ings rise for the fourth quarter ended january to mln dlrs from mln dlrs resulted from merchandising refurbishing and expense control a year ago k mart took a charge of mln dlrs for discontinued operations ings from continuing retail operations in the quarter totalled mln dlrs or dlrs a share compared with mln dlrs or dlrs a year ago k mart chairman bernard fauber said the success of these programs is better illustrated by the strong pct increase in income from continuing operations before income taxes to billion dlrs the first time k mart corp has reached this milestone sales for the fiscal year reached a record billion dlrs an pct rise from billion dlrs the prior year k mart said was restated to account for discontinued operations comparable store sales rose pct in over it said fauber said the sales growth came from greater consumer acceptance of k mart s apparel merchandise a marked increase in hardline merchandise sales and a growing contribution from specialty retailing operations k mart said its fourth quarter pre tax income from continuing operations was mln dlrs a pct gain from mln dlrs last year it said sales in the period grew pct to billion dlrs from a restated billion dlrs in with comparable store sales up pct k mart said its effective tax rate rose in to pct from pct in but it said selling general and administrative expense eased to pct of sales from pct in our performance in marks a major turning point for k mart fauber said in a statement in the years immediately prior to we focused on changing the look of our stores and the structure of the company k mart he said committed billion of dollars for store remodeling and installing a centralized point of sale system upgraded its merchandise mix acquired three large specialty retailers divested underperforming businesses and restructured its long term debt we were forced to pay a temporary price in the form of slower ings growth and a lower rating by the investment community however beginning with the fourth quarter of our improved performance is proof that our approach is correct for the long term the k mart chairman said reuter 
