UPS Chief Predicts Modest Gain in Holiday Shipments
UPS Inc.’s chief executive officer said he expects shipments to increase in the low single-digit range from a year ago during the peak season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, boosted by online purchases, Bloomberg reported.
Volume will be “slightly higher” than last year, with online retailers among the most optimistic, CEO Scott Davis told Bloomberg in an interview outside of Toronto, where he was visiting an expansion of a UPS hub.
He reaffirmed UPS’ forecast of handling 400 million packages during the peak season.
Davis also said the company’s board will decide soon on whether to change its dividend for 2010. The payout has been 45 cents a share for eight consecutive quarters but may rise to 48 cents for the first quarter of 2010, according to a Bloomberg forecast.
UPS is ranked No. 1 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.
