Tag: UPS

UPS will stop delivering cigarettes to individuals in the United States under an agreement announced Monday with state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

The agreement is the latest in federal and state efforts to combat the sale of under-taxed cigarette and to fight underage smoking.
Monday’s agreement leaves only the U.S. Postal Service among major carriers to continue to deliver cigarettes to individuals, Spitzer said. He called that practice “an embarrassment.”

Despite a new policy adopted by the Postal Service in September to refuse delivery of illegal products, the federal service allows employees to accept packages suspected of containing under-taxed cigarettes, Spitzer said.

Led by strong worldwide gains in package volume and the expansion of its supply chain and freight business, UPS today reported a 17.9% increase in revenue and an adjusted 22.9% increase in diluted earnings per share. For the three months ended Sept. 30, 2005, earnings per diluted share were USD 0.86 compared to the USD 0.78 reported in the prior year. Adjusting for a tax credit that positively impacted earnings in 2004’s third quarter, diluted earnings per share rose 22.9%, up from USD 0.70 a year ago. “This has been a great quarter of growth for UPS,” said Mike Eskew, UPS chairman and CEO. “We have tremendous momentum right now in the US and around the world and we see it continuing.”

Fighting high fuel costs in the air and on the ground, UPS Inc. is still expected to report higher earnings next week when the shipper turns in its third-quarter results.

Analysts expect UPS to earn 86 cents a share, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson First Call. Revenue is forecast at USD10.369 billion. Last year, the company earned 70 cents a share, according to First Call.

Against the backdrop of high fuel prices, competition is not relenting on any front. When rival FedEx Corp. reported its first-quarter results in late September, the company raised its outlook for the fiscal year even though fuel remains volatile.