Sears' Profits Increase 14.4%
Strong consumer spending boosted Sears, Roebuck & Co.'s second-quarter net income to $356 million (99 cents a share), a. 14.4 percent gain over second-quarter earnings last year, Sears reported yesterday.</br></br>Meanwhile, Standard Oil Co. (Indiana), the nation's fourth-largest oil company, reported its second-quarter profits rose 23 percent above year-earlier levels, while Atlantic Richfield Co., ranked sixth on the basis of sales, said its earnings nudged up 3 percent.</br></br>Uniroyal Inc., maker of chemical, rubber and plastic products, yesterday reported second-quarter net income increased 20 percent to a record $30.2 million (86 cents a share), while Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the world's largest rubber company, said its profits more than tripled in the second quarter.</br></br>Ohio-based Armco Inc., whose main business is steel, said that it narrowed its second-quarter loss to $14.1 million from a loss of $75.8 million in the same period a year earlier.</br></br>Sears' second-quarter net income in 1983 was $311.2 million (89 cents), the company said in a statement.