News Briefs - Dec. 17
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The Latest Headlines:
- FedEx Earnings Fall on Restructuring Charges
- Celadon Names Glaser Chief Operating Officer
- Vitran Prices Stock Offering at $13.75
- Boston Fed President Says Economy Picking Up Steam
- Talks Scheduled to Resume in California Grocery Strike
- Saudi Minister Says OPEC Unlikely to Act Before February
- Celadon Names Glaser Chief Operating Officer
FedEx Earnings Fall on Restructuring Charges
FedEx Corp. said Wednesday net income for its 2004 fiscal second quarter was $91 million or 30 cents per share, compared with $245 million or 81 cents a year earlier.Excluding charges related to staff restructuring, net income for the quarter ended Aug. 31 was $332 million or 61 cents.
Excluding charges, earnings for the full fiscal year are expected to be $3.30 to $3.40 per share, FedEx said.
The company is ranked No. 2 on the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies. Transport Topics
Celadon Names Glaser Chief Operating Officer
Celadon Group Inc. said it named Thomas Glaser as its new chief operating officer.Celadon said in a release Glaser joined the company in April 2001 as executive vice president of operations.
Prior to joining Celadon, he spent 13 years with truckload carrier Contract Freighters Inc.
Celadon is ranked No. 49 on the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies. Transport Topics
Vitran Prices Stock Offering at $13.75
Toronto-based transportation firm Vitran Corp. said Wednesday it priced its previously announced public offering of $2 million common shares at $13.75 per share.Vitran said in a release it also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 300,000 common shares to cover over-allotments.
The company said it would use net proceeds from the offering for acquisitions and to fund capital expenditures.
Vitran is ranked No. 57 on the 2003 Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies. Transport Topics
Boston Fed President Says Economy Picking Up Steam
Cathy Minehan, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said Tuesday the U.S. economic expansion seemed to be picking up steam, and more jobs should be created even if productivity remains high, Reuters reported.Speaking at a Chamber of Commerce meeting in Randolph, Mass., Minehan said even as the pace of consumer spending slows as the impact of tax cuts fade in early 2004, it seems likely that business spending will take up the slack.
She also said productivity growth would remain at a high level and price pressures would be relatively contained in the near term.
Minehan will be a voting member of the Fed's policy committee in 2004, Reuters said. Transport Topics
Talks Scheduled to Resume in California Grocery Strike
A federal mediator said negotiations are scheduled to resume on Friday between three supermarket operators and the union representing about 70,000 Southern California grocery workers who have been on strike or locked out of the stores for more than two months, the Associated Press reported.Last month, the Teamsters, whose members drive trucks, halted deliveries at some distribution centers.
alks between the United Food and Commercial Workers union and Albertsons Inc., Kroger Co. and Safeway Inc. were last held Dec. 7.
That round of negotiations lasted six days, the longest stretch of talks conducted by the companies and the union since grocery workers went on strike or were locked out Oct. 11 at nearly 860 Ralphs, Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions stores.
The dispute centers on a demand by the supermarket chains that workers shoulder a larger portion of their health care insurance costs, AP said. Transport Topics
Saudi Minister Says OPEC Unlikely to Act Before February
Saudi Arabia Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said the OPEC oil cartel is unlikely to make any adjustment to its production quota before its next meeting in February, Bloomberg reported.At its last meeting Dec. 4, OPEC left its output quotas unchanged at 24.5 million barrels a day. The price of crude oil traded in New York has gained 6% since that meeting.
Al-Naimi said prices have climbed because of cold weather and U.S. motor fuel prices, not because of short supply, so increasing production is not the answer, according to Bloomberg. Transport Topics
