Fourth-quarter ended July 31 net income at Zale Corp. declined to $4.1 million, or 8 cents a share vs. $6.9 million, or 13 cents a share last year. Total revenue climbed to $472.3 million versus $455.6 million a year earlier. Analysts expected profit of 8 cents a share for the quarter.

Zale earned $106.8 million for the full year, or $2.05 a share, modestly up vs. a year-ago $106.5 million, or $1.99 a share. Total revenue jumped 3.4 % to $2.38 billion vs. $2.30 billion in the year-earlier period. Same-store sales added 0.3% for the year.

Zale plans to close 30 to 35 stores after the holiday season ends as a measure to improve brand performance and profitability at Bailey Banks & Biddle. The company expects to take a fiscal 2006 charge of $13 million, or 25 cents a share, related to the closings of its stores.

Full-year revenue is seen up 5% to 7%, including a same-store sales growth of 2.5% to 3.5%. Those targets exclude the effect of the planned store closures. Excluding stock-compensation expense of $5 million, the $13 million Bailey Banks & Biddle charge, and a potential income tax benefit of up to $10 million, Zale expects fiscal 2006 earnings a share to add 12% to 14%.

The company added separately that its board approved the buy back of up to $100 million common shares occasionally on the open market.


Other Earnings

Maidenform, intimate apparel maker, announced it reversed to a 2Q profit of $2.6 million versus a year-ago loss of $2.4 million. The company posted a 58 cents loss per share, down from a loss of 23 cents for the same period last year because of preferred stock dividends and changes in redemption value related to its July 22 initial public offering. Sales for the quarter rose to $102.3 million from $50.1 million in the year-ago period.

Engineered Support Systems, military equipment manufacturer, posted 3Q net income of 52 cents a share, up from 49 cents a share in the same period last year on revenue growth, beating analysts forecasts of 50 cents a share. The company reaffirmed its outlook for earnings from continuing operations in 2005 of $2 to $2.03 a share and revenue of $1.02 billion to $1.05 billion.

CNOOC, China's offshore oil producer, reported net profit in the first half of 2005 jumped 68.6 percent on year to 11.83 billion yuan ($1.46 billion), spurred by high oil prices. CNOOC's net production offshore China advanced 20.1 % to 383,583 barrels of oil equivalent. CNOOC is due to hold a teleconference later Tuesday give more information on its results.

CRH, Irish constructions material company, posted first-half profit advanced to 55.7 euro cents a share, up vs. 47.4 euro cents a share in the year-ago period on 13% sales growth and an operating profit rise of 20%. The group lifted its dividend for the period by 17% to 11.25 euro cents a share.