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Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Sport Chalet says income up sharply

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE - Net income more than doubled from last year for retail chain Sport Chalet Inc., the company said Thursday.

For the first three months of fiscal 2006, the company earned $389,000, or 6 cents per share, up from $137,000, or 2 cents per share, a year ago.

Sales improved more than 17 percent, to $72.1 million from $61.5 million a year ago in the like period.

The company credited the opening of five new stores and an increase in same-store sales of 4.9 percent over last year.

Dell's sales short of analyst figures

DALLAS - Dell Inc. on Thursday said its second-quarter net income jumped an annual 28 percent but it still missed Wall Street's revenue expectations.

Net income climbed to $1.02 billion, or 41 cents per share, from $799 billion, or 31 cents per share, a year ago.

Sales were up to $13.43 billion, from $11.71 billion in the like period a year ago. But that was still below Thomson First Call analysts' projections of $13.71 billion.

Target earnings are down sharply

MINNEAPOLIS - Target Corp. reported Thursday that its second-quarter earnings dropped off sharply, a result of last year's one-time boom following the sale of Marshall Field's.

Net income dropped to $540 million, or 61 cents per share, from $1.41 billion, or $1.53 per share, last year when it shed the chain.

Revenue, buoyed by a 6.7 percent increase in same-store sales, improved to $11.99 billion from $10.56 billion last year.

7-Eleven altering tobacco practices

DALLAS - Convenience-store leader 7-Eleven Inc., the nation's largest retailer of tobacco products, has agreed to toughen its procedures to catch underage shoppers who try to buy tobacco products.

In a deal announced Thursday and covering stores in about 30 states, 7-Eleven agreed not to place tobacco signs next to products popular with minors, to ban vending machines for tobacco and remove outward-facing window signs for tobacco within 500 feet of schools or playgrounds.

According to a recent survey, a quarter of high school seniors said they smoke cigarettes, and tobacco is 7-Eleven's biggest-selling product, accounting for 29.1 percent of its sales in the United States and Canada last year.

The Dallas-based company also agreed to require a government-issued photo identification for any shopper who appears to be under 27. Spokeswoman Margaret Chabris said 7-Eleven agreed to use more young decoy shoppers to see whether clerks ask for ID, and to pay the states $375,000 for tobacco-related public health and enforcement programs.