Topeka ? Shares of Payless ShoeSource Inc. on Thursday set a new 52-week high, after the company said it tripled its third-quarter profits on slightly higher sales.

Payless shares gained $1.29, or 6.3 percent, to close at $21.75 in trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange, above its prior 52-week high of $21.71.

For the three months that ended Oct. 29, the Topeka-based retailer reported earnings of $21.9 million, or 32 cents per share, compared with earnings of $6.6 million, or 10 cents per share, during the same quarter a year ago.

The year-ago quarter included a $5.9 million charge from discontinued operations, as well as $3.9 million in restructuring charges. Payless reported $1.2 million in restructuring charges for the third quarter of this year.

Sales rose 0.8 percent to $666.9 million from $661.4 million a year ago.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 26 cents per share on sales of $667 million.

Sales from stores open at least a year – considered a key measure of financial health in retail – increased 3 percent during the quarter, the company said.

The company last year closed operations in Chile and Peru, as well as its Parade line of stores and 26 Payless stores in North America. At the end of the 2005 third quarter, Payless operated 4,626 stores, down from 4,804 stores a year ago. Sixty of the company’s stores are still closed after being damaged by hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.