UPS releases fourth quarter results

UPS, the American international parcel delivery company, published its fourth quarter results yesterday.

The company announced earlier in the month that diluted earnings per share for the quarter would be lower than initially anticipated, owing to bad weather and the need to take on an increased number of personnel due to unprecedented order volumes in the run up to Christmas. In spite of this, 2013 results generally compared favourably with the previous year and UPS have promised even better for 2014.

Revenue for the US domestic package, the largest branch of the company, rose 4.2% to $8.9 billion. The international package climbed 5.3% year-on-year from $3.2 to $3.37 billion while revenue from the Supply Chain & Freight division dropped 5.8%. 

Consolidated revenue for the quarter amounted to almost $15 million, an overall 2.8% increase from 2012's $14.57 billion Q4 turnover.

The fourth quarter's performance provided a good end for the US courier - revenue increased 2.4% to over $55 billion and total operating profit rose to $7,034 billion compared to $1,343 billion in 2012. 

Kurt Kuehn, UPS Chief Financial Officer, said, "While the year ended on a challenging note, we are confident in our ability to adapt and we expect much better results in 2014. UPS expects balanced profitability growth across all segments in a slightly better economic environment, resulting in full-year guidance of diluted earnings per share of $5.05 to $5.30, an 11%-to-16% increase over our 2013 adjusted results."

UPS releases results for the second quarter

Express delivery company UPS has released its financial results for the second quarter. Profits fell by almost 3% compared to the second quarter of 2012 while revenue saw a slight 1.2% year-on-year increase. The freight division of the company performed worst, with a 27% plunge in profit. You can read the full story, including detailed results per division, via our website.

UPS announce 2.2% increase in Q1 earnings

UPS announced their first quarter results this afternoon, citing a better than expected post-Christmas season and the surge in e-commerce as contributing factors to their 2.2% growth in revenue. Operating profit also increased by $100 million compared to the first quarter of 2012. The courier company delivered an average of 16.2 million packages per day in the January-March 2013, an increase of 4.1% on the previous year.

Image c/o UPS

The U.S. Domestic operation saw the greatest increases in revenue ($267 million) and operating profit ($90 million) of all branches of the organisation. International operations saw slight increases in revenue and average daily volume along with a 14% decrease in operating profit from $408 to $352 million. The Supply Chain and Freight branch of the business increased revenues by $200 million while profits fell by $20 million to $143 million. UPS cited overcapacity in trans-Pacific trade lanes as the reason for the decrease. 

UPS Chief Financial Officer Kurt Kuehn commented, "January started strong [and] the pace of growth for the remainder of the quarter was in line with our expectations." 

Source: UPS