UPS' Fourth-Quarter Earnings Top $1 Billion

PS Inc. reported Thursday that its fourth-quarter profit rose 21% to more than $1 billion, as volume rose.

The carrier earned $1.05 billion or 95 cents a share, up from $866 million or 76 cents a year earlier. Sales rose 22% to $12 billion, UPS said.

UPS is ranked No. 1 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.

.S. domestic package revenue grew 8.9% to $7.82 billion, international package revenue rose 18.5% to $2.22 billion and UPS’ supply chain and freight segment’s revenue jumped 146% to $1.91 billion.

The freight segment was helped by the acquisition of Menlo Worldwide Forwarding in December 2004 and of less-than-truckload carrier Overnite in August.

The $1.25 billion Overnite deal was the largest acquisition in UPS’ history. (Click here for previous coverage.)

UPS projected earnings of 85 cents to 89 cents in the first quarter of this year, compared with 78 cents in last year’s first quarter.

or all of 2005, the company earned $3.87 billion or $3.47 per share, compared with $3.33 billion or $2.93 in 2004.

Revenue for the year rose to $42.6 billion, 16.4% over 2004’s $36.6 billion.