BUSINESS MEMO: SEARS EARNING UP

Sears, Roebuck and Co. earnings jumped 22.4 percent in the third quarter, largely on the strength of increased credit revenues, the company said recently.

Sears reported third-quarter income of $279 million, or 68 cents a share, up from $228 million, or 56 cents a share, in the same period last year. For the first nine months of 1996, Sears earned $704 million, or $1.71 a share, up 23.5 percent from $570 million, or $1.40 a share, for the first three quarters of 1995.

Sears Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Arthur C. Martinez said credit revenues rose 19 percent in the quarter. Overall revenues rose 7.5 percent from $8.44 billion in the third quarter of last year to $9.07 billion the quarter that just ended.