Strong Sales Fuel Jump In Microsoft Profits

Microsoft Corp.’s profit for its third fiscal quarter shot up 42 percent on strong sales of its office and operating system software, the company said Thursday.

The company earned a record $562 million, or 88 cents a share, for the period ended March 31. That’s up from $396 million, or 63 cents a share, for the same period in 1995.

Revenues hit $2.2 billion, 39 percent higher than the $1.6 billion a year ago.

The company said it had record royalties from personal computer makers that install its Windows operating systems into their systems.

In other earnings reported Thursday:

McDonald’s Corp. posted one of its smallest quarterly increases in years as stiff domestic competition and unusually bad weather in January and February hurt its bottom line.

Net income for the three months ended March 31 rose 7 percent to $301.6 million, or 42 cents a share, from $280.7 million, or 39 cents a share, during the comparable period a year ago.

The results were affected by a one-time charge of $16 million to adopt new accounting standards, which was offset by lower provisions for property. Excluding that, earnings would have risen 11 percent to $312.3 million, or 44 cents a share.

Sears, Roebuck & Co. said its first-quarter earnings from continuing operations rose 21.8 percent, due in part to strong sales of clothing and big-ticket items during the Easter shopping season.

Sears, the nation’s second-largest retailer, said earnings would have declined from a year ago if 1995 results had been included from The Allstate Corp. insurance company and the Homart Development Co., which were spun off in June 1995.

Income from continuing operations for the three months ended March 31 rose to $151 million, or 36 cents a share, from $124 million, or 30 cents a share, in the same 1995 period.

Northwest Airlines said its first-quarter income from operations fell 9 percent compared to the same period last year as higher employee-benefit expenses offset a rise in revenue.

The company’s net income rose more than 20 times to $53.4 million, or 41 cents a share, from $2.6 million, or 52 cents a share, but operating income slipped to $134.4 million from $147.3 million, due mostly to a $120.1 million expense related to its employee compensation plan.