DETROIT ? Kmart Holding Corp. announced its first profitable quarter since emerging from bankruptcy, but the discount retailer’s same-store sales continued to fall.

The Troy, Mich.-based company, which had earlier announced a profitable holiday season, said Thursday it earned $276 million, or $2.78 per share in the fourth quarter.

For the same quarter a year ago, while it was in bankruptcy and before its reorganization, it reported a loss of $1.1 billion.

Fourth-quarter sales at stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, declined 13.5 percent, while total sales dropped 25.8 percent. Same-store sales comparisons take new stores and store closings out of the mix and are considered the best measure of a retailer’s health.

Kmart said it earned $248 million, or $2.52 per share, for the 39-week period beginning with its emergence from bankruptcy May 1 to the end of its fiscal year Jan. 28. Its predecessor company had a net loss of $1.8 billion for the same period a year earlier.

Kmart attributed its better performance to improvements in inventory management and pricing.

“By giving careful thought to the processes of sourcing, logistics, pricing, inventory management and in-store presentation, we have significantly improved the profitability of our market basket,” chief executive Julian Day said in a statement.

Day said Kmart ended the year with inventory of $3.3 billion, a reduction of 25 percent over last year.

Kmart said the decline in same-store sales was due to several promotional events the previous year and a reduction in advertising in fiscal 2003.

Kmart operates a distribution center in Lawrence.