ANNUAL MEETINGS : No Decision on Site for Sears Unit Until June

CHICAGO —  Sears, Roebuck & Co. hopes to announce in June where its 6,000-employee Merchandising Group will be moved but is “nowhere near” a decision now, Chairman Edward A. Brennan said Thursday.

“All I can say is that we’re looking very hard at all of the alternatives,” Brennan told reporters following the company’s annual meeting. “The truth is that we really don’t have all of the costs laid out.”

Brennan said officials including Illinois Gov. James R. Thompson and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley were working hard to keep the Sears subsidiary in Illinois.

He would not discuss what incentives were offered or compare them to those offered by other states.

He declined to comment on reports that the company is looking at sites in Dallas and Charlotte, N.C., but did say Sears will not move the Merchandise Group to northern Indiana.

Brennan’s news conference followed the company’s first annual meeting since it announced last October that it would sell the Sears Tower--the world’s tallest building--offer more brand-name products and shift to everyday low prices.

“In 1988, a year of transition, Sears demonstrated that it is a very strong company,” he said. “For the first time, we exceeded $50 billion in revenue, an increase of 9.5%.

“We also recorded the second most profitable year in our history: $1.45 billion. Yet we should do better, and I have every confidence that we will,” Brennan said.

Brennan said company officials would like to keep most major operations headquartered in the Chicago area for “emotional reasons.” But he said Sears would need at least 1 million square feet to house the Merchandise Group, space that would be greater than most of the parcels it owns in the Chicago area.