FedEx Corp, the world's leading air-express group, on Wednesday said restructuring charges drove down net quarterly earnings as revenues were aided by more U.S. ground and international deliveries.
The Memphis, Tennessee, transport group said fiscal second-quarter net profit, including charges for staff restructuring, was $91 million, or 30 cents a share, down from $245 million, or 81 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter.
Without the costs for retirements and staff reduction equal to 57 cents a share and 5 cents in savings from the program, FedEx quarterly profit would have been $266 million, or 87 cents a share, according to a news release.
Wall Street analysts had forecast that the pioneer of overnight air deliveries would earn 89 cents a share, according to a consensus forecast excluding the charges from the Reuters Research unit of Reuters Group Plc. Forecasts among 19 analysts had ranged from 84 cents a share to 92 cents a share.
The company had in September said it expected fiscal second-quarter earnings to between 80 cents and 90 cents a share without the restructuring charges.
Revenue was helped by growth in ground deliveries, as well as international improvements, and was $5.92 billion, up from $5.67 billion a year earlier.
