Ryder System 3rd quarter profits up

Ryder System 3rd quarter profits up Miami-based transportation giant Ryder System Inc. Wednesday reported third quarter net income of $70.2 million, compared to $65.5 million in the year-earlier period.
   Excluding certain tax items, comparable earnings for the third quarter were $68.6 million, up from $67.2 million or $1.14 per share in the same period last year. Wall Street analysts expected the company to report earnings of $1.27 per share.
   The firm's revenue for the quarter was $1.63 billion, down 1 percent from $1.65 billion, meeting Wall Street expectations.
   According to Ryder, revenue was impacted by a previously announced change from gross to net revenue reporting in a subcontracted transportation agreement, which has no impact on operating revenue or earnings.
   Operating revenue, excluding Fleet Management Solutions fuel and all subcontracted transportation, rose 3 percent to $1.21 billion, compared with $1.17 billion in the year-ago period.
   “Revenue and earnings in our contractual product lines were largely in line with our expectations,' said Greg Swienton, Ryder chairman and chief executive officer. 'Even in this current challenging environment, we continued to have operating revenue growth in both Fleet Management and Supply Chain Solutions. Bottom line performance in Fleet Management and Dedicated Contract Carriage were particularly strong considering this economic environment.'
   Fleet Management Solutions' revenue increased 11 percent due to higher fuel services revenue, as well as contractual revenue growth of 4 percent which more than offset a 4 percent decline in commercial rental revenue for the quarter.
   The Supply Chain Solutions segment's revenue declined 22 percent during the third quarter due to the change from gross to net reporting, while operating revenue grew 6 percent.
   The Dedicated Contract Carriage segment's revenue and operating revenue decreased 2 percent and 1 percent, respectively, which the firm attributed to the pass through of higher fuel costs offsetting the loss of certain customer contracts.
   The firm expects forth quarter earnings to be in the range of $1.03 to $1.13 per share. Wall Street analysts are expecting earnings of $1.23 per share.
   'We expect the market for our transactional commercial rental product line will experience continued softness in the near term due to the increasingly challenging global economic environment,' Swienton said. 'We also anticipate continued challenges affecting our global supply chain business. Despite these factors, we are positioned to continue to grow revenue and earnings in most of our contractual product lines through both organic and acquisition-related expansion.'