UPS’ Adjusted 4Q Profit Rises
UPS Inc. said Tuesday its fourth-quarter adjusted net income rose, not including new pension changes that the company had announced last week.
Including the pension change, adopted retroactively, net income fell to $725 million, or 74 cents per share, from $1.03 billion, or $1.02, a year ago.
After adjusting for the pension change, the company’s profit rose to $1.28 per share, from $1.06 a year earlier.
UPS said the new accounting method resulted in after-tax charges of $527 million last year and $75 million in 2010.
Fourth-quarter revenue rose 6% to $14.2 billion.
For the full year 2011, adjusted earnings per share were $4.35, up from $3.48 a year ago.
Excluding charges on a reported basis, net income rose to $3.8 billion, or $3.84 per share, from $3.34 billion, or $3.33, a year earlier. Revenue rose 7.2% to $53.1 billion.
Its supply chain and freight unit’s fourth-quarter adjusted operating profit rose 11% to $199 million, on revenue growth of 2.1%, to $2.34 billion.
Domestic U.S. package fourth-quarter adjusted operating profit rose 30% to $1.32 billion, while revenue rose to $8.67 billion, from $8.08 billion.
Fourth-quarter international package adjusted operating profit rose to $505 million, from $334 million, while revenue rose to $3.15 billion, from $3.05 billion.
UPS “projects another strong year of earnings,” said Chief Financial Officer Kurt Kuehn, adding it expects earnings per share to be $4.75 to $5 for the year, up 9% to 15% over adjusted 2011 results.
The company plans about $2.7 billion in share repurchases this year, he said in a statement.
UPS is ranked No. 1 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.
