UPS SHOWS STRONG RESULTS

UPS SHOWS STRONG RESULTS    United Parcel Service posted improved results in all but one business sector during the fourth quarter and full-year 1999, highlighting the company’s healthy financial position as it enters its first full year on Wall Street.
   Net income in the last three months of 1999 increased 37.1 percent to $661 million, while revenue increased 11.7 to $7.45 billion. Net income for the year fell 49.3 percent to $883 million due to a one-time tax charge related to a federal ruling against the company. Without the $1.44-billion assessment, profit would have increased 33.5 percent to $2.33 billion. Total annual sales grew 9.1 percent to $27.05 billion.
   UPS’s domestic business improved most in the overnight air sector, where the company reported a 10.8-percent year-over-year increase in average daily package volume. Deferred and ground delivery traffic in the United States grew 8.8 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively. Those numbers seem to confirm what analysts believe is a key factor behind FedEx Corp.’s restructuring plan this year — that UPS is winning business in FedEx’s core overnight air market.
   International package traffic grew 2.8 percent for the year, dragged down by a 2.6-percent decline in overseas domestic deliveries. Average daily international export volume jumped 18.4 percent.
   Overall, UPS delivered more than 12.9 million domestic and international packages per day in 1999 — an increase of 4.6 percent over the previous year.
   UPS recorded improved annual profitability in all businesses. Domestic package operating profit increased 23.1 percent to $3.57 billion. Operating profit from international package operations jumped 350 percent to $252 million. Operating profit from non-package operations increased 24.4 percent to $168 million, on a 36.5 percent increase in revenue of $1.01 billion.
   “We expect another good year in 2000 as these positive trends continue,” said Robert J. Clanin, UPS’s chief financial officer