(New York) The American letter and parcel delivery group Fedex suffered a decline in its turnover in the second quarter of its financial year, lagging compared to the previous year, due in particular to lower volumes, said -he announced Tuesday in a press release.
Fedex justifies this drop in its activity by a reduction in volumes, by a 2% drop in the price per package transported in its Fedex Ground branch – envelopes and parcels of 68 kg maximum –, while the additional costs linked to the price of fuel have been lower.
Its turnover for the second quarter was 22.16 billion dollars, compared to 22.81 billion a year earlier, and its net profit stood at 900 million dollars, compared to 788 million over the same period of the year. Previous exercice.
Reported per share and on a comparable basis – a benchmark for the markets – the quarterly net profit reached $3.99 when the consensus of analysts was forecasting $4.19.
A failure that the markets punished in electronic exchanges after the closure of the New York Stock Exchange: Fedex shares lost 8.46%.
The group nevertheless improved its operating profit – to 1.28 billion, compared to 1.18 billion over the same period of the previous year – and its operating margin increased from 5.2% to 5.8%.
“This is mainly due to the implementation of the Drive business plan and the continued commitment to the quality of service and turnover,” noted the group, which generated 500 million euros over the quarter. of dollars in share buybacks and which intends to devote an additional billion to it this financial year.
“With demand continuing to put pressure on our turnover, we are satisfied with our ability to achieve stronger operational performance and better profitability,” commented John Dietrich, Chief Financial Officer, quoted in the press release.
Regarding its entire 2024 financial year, Fedex now anticipates a decline of less than 5% in its turnover – compared to stability expected at the end of the first quarter – and a like-for-like earnings per share of 15.35 at 16.85 dollars (excluding accounting adjustments linked to the retirement system), compared to 15.10 to 16.60 previously forecast.
Its Drive business project is expected to generate $1.8 billion in permanent cost reductions over this period.
Fedex employs more than 500,000 people worldwide.