Kmart says it plans to emerge from bankruptcy in first half of 2003

<br>DETROIT (AP) _ Kmart Corp. said Monday it plans to emerge from bankruptcy protection as early as the first half of 2003. <br><br>The discount retailer also said it plans to complete a five-year business

Monday, October 21st 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

DETROIT (AP) _ Kmart Corp. said Monday it plans to emerge from bankruptcy protection as early as the first half of 2003.

The discount retailer also said it plans to complete a five-year business plan by the end of this year and file a plan of reorganization with the bankruptcy court by Feb. 24.

``This timeline is aggressive and will require a lot of hard work in a relatively short period of time, but should be doable,'' chief executive James B. Adamson said in a statement. ``I am as confident as ever that Kmart can emerge from Chapter 11 as a strong and viable competitor with a clearly defined niche in the discount retail sector.''

Kmart filed for Chapter 11 protection on Jan. 22 following disappointing holiday sales and a steep decline in its stock price. It has closed 283 stores as part of its restructuring.

Kmart said Monday that its same-store sales for the five-week period ended Oct. 2 were down 6.9 percent from the same period in 2001. That is an improvement over the previous months, when sales were down by double-digit percentages. Same-store sales were down 13.8 percent in July from a year earlier and down 11.9 percent in August.

Kmart had sales of $1.97 billion for the four-week period ended Sept. 25 and a net loss of $176 million for the month.