J.C. Penney Co. Inc. said that its fourth quarter profit doubled as aggressive advertising and markdowns helped drive better-than-expected holiday sales.
The retailer and cataloger reported a net profit of $202 million compared with last year’s earnings of $95 million. The quarter ended Jan. 25.
The company said it expects charges related to the restructuring of its catalog operations to cut 2003 earnings by about $40 million, about evenly divided between the first and second quarters.
This restructuring is expected to generate annual savings of about $30 million, which will be fully realized in 2004.
Quarterly sales inched up 0.1% to $9.55 billion, weighed down by a steep 20.7% drop in catalog sales. The catalog restructuring includes 2,000 job cuts.
