Sysco’s Fiscal Third-Quarter Income Falls on Higher Fuel Costs

May 1, 2006 10:25 AM, EDT

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ood distributor Sysco Corp. said Monday its fiscal third-quarter profit fell 14% on higher fuel and stock options expenses.

Net income fell to $188.5 million or 30 cents a share, from $218.2 million or 34 cents a year earlier, Sysco said. Revenue rose 9.4% to $8.14 billion.

Sysco’s trucking and packaging expenses are rising as fuel prices increase, and Chief Executive Officer Richard Schnieders is trying to counter that by adding more sales people and conducting business reviews of customers to boost revenue, Bloomberg reported.

Sysco, which runs about 7,200 tractors and 9,000 straight trucks, is ranked No. 1 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of private North American carriers.