BUSINESS MEMO: SEARS PROFITS UP

Sears, Roebuck & Co. reported first-quarter profits jumped 36 percent as the company's credit-card business improved and offset weak sales at its auto centers and department stores.

For the three months ended March 31, profit from operations rose to $146 million, or 38 cents a share, from $109.3 million, or 28 cents, a year earlier.

Revenue fell 2.1 percent to $9.04 billion from $9.23 billion last year. Sales at stores open at least a year, an industry measure of performance, rose 1.9 percent.

Sears operates 847 full-line stores and more than 2,100 specialty stores.