News Briefs - April 13
The Latest Headlines:
- Business Inventories Rise 0.7% in February
- Vitran Raises Guidance After CN Strike Ends
- Goodyear Reduces Profits by $65 Million
- C.H. Robinson Alters Method of Accounting
- San Francisco Fed Names New President
- Vitran Raises Guidance After CN Strike Ends
Business Inventories Rise 0.7% in February
Inventories at U.S. businesses rose 0.7% in February to $1.195 trillion, the sixth straight monthly increase and largest since August 2000, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.Stockpiles at retailers, reported for the first time, rose 0.4% in February compared with no change the month before. If inventories and sales are increasing, it likely means trucks are seeing an increase in business to delivery new goods to stores.
Commerce also said business sales rose 0.5% after January's 0.3% increase, which was initially reported at 0.4%.
Vitran Raises Guidance After CN Strike Ends
Toronto-based transportation firm Vitran Corp. said Tuesday it expected higher profits for the first quarter and full year.For the quarter ended March 31, Vitran said in a statement it expected earnings in the range of 12 cents to 13 cents per share, compared with 14 cents a year earlier.
Vitran said it would earn between 98 cents and $1.05 for the full year, compared with $1.01 in 2003.
The company, ranked No. 57 on the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies, said once the Canadian National Railway strike ended Vitran's business immediately bounced back to pre-strike levels. Transport Topics
Goodyear Reduces Profits by $65 Million
Goodyear Rubber & Tire Co. said Monday it would reduce its reported profit for the past six years by an additional $65 million.The company said in a statement its internal investigation of overseas accounting was complete and although the entire results of the probe were still under review, net income between 1997 and 2003 would have to be reduced by $10 million.
Goodyear said the other $55 million is because of understatement of workers' compensation claims, adjustment of profits tied to internal inventory and other issues.
This income adjustment is on top of an October announcement that forced Goodyear to lower net income since 1998 by nearly $85 million because of separate accounting system mistakes, the Associated Press reported. Transport Topics
C.H. Robinson Alters Method of Accounting
Logistics firm C.H. Robinson Worldwide reported April 5 that it has adopted the fair value recognition method of accounting as provided by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, replacing the intrinsic value method it previously used.With the adoption of the new method, the company said it planned to expense its stock options and the discounts granted to employees on company shares they purchase.
The nation’s largest freight brokerage said it would apply this provision retroactively to its financial information for prior periods in order to provide investors with comparable results in the current and coming years.
Robinson, of Eden Prairie, Minn., ranks No. 16 in the Transport Topics Logistics 50 listing. Transport Topics
This story appeared in the April 12 print edition of Transport Topics.
San Francisco Fed Names New President
The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco named former Fed governor Janet Yellen to succeed Robert Parry, who will retire in June after 18 years in the position.Yellen will take over the largest Fed district by population, land mass and economic output on June 14, Bloomberg reported. Parry was the second-longest serving regional Fed president behind Gary Stern of Minneapolis.
She served as a Fed governor from August 1994 to February 1997 and never dissented against a Fed interest rate decision.
San Francisco's president becomes a voting member every three years, with the next opportunity in 2006. Transport Topics
