UPS’s NET INCOME REMAINED FLAT IN 2002

UPSÆS NET INCOME REMAINED FLAT IN 2002    United Parcel Service, the Atlanta-based integrator, said Tuesday its net income – excluding non-recurring items — was flat at $2.42 billion for 2002.
   Operating profit rose 1.1 percent to $4 billion.
Full-year revenues for UPS totaled $31.3 billion in 2002, up 3.1 percent from $30.3 billion posted for all of 2001.
   In the fourth quarter of 2002, UPS operating profit — adjusted to exclude non-recurring items — increased 4.4 percent to $1.08 billion.
   Net income in the fourth quarter rose 3.9 percent to $670 million, up from $645 million in the last quarter of 2001. fourth-quarter revenue rose 3.3 percent to $8.26 billion.
   In the provider’s international segment, fourth-quarter revenue increased 17 percent to $1.3 billion. In the U.S. domestic segment, revenue totaled $6.22 billion, “essentially flat compared to $6.23 billion a year ago,” UPS said in a statement.
   In the UPS non-package segment, revenue for the fourth quarter increased 12.4 percent, to $735 million. The business units within this division, Supply Chain Solutions, UPS Logistics Group and UPS Freight Services, reported a combined revenue increase of 12.2 percent, to $544 million during the quarter.
   Non-recurring items in the fourth quarter included a tentative settlement of by UPS and the Internal Revenue Service “of all outstanding tax issues,” UPS said in a statement. A second item involved how UPS employees earn vacation pay.
   “While we have not seen signs of an economic rebound in the U.S., our international business is showing strong growth, and our non-package initiatives are paying off,” said Scott Davis, chief financial officer of UPS.