Q1 profit exceeded expectations! Rising shipping rates pushed UPS revenue to nearly $24.4 billion!

It is learned that on April 26, UPS announced better-than-expected profits for the first quarter of 2022. Due to the continuous increase in freight rates and the imposition of fuel surcharges, the higher rates offset the decline in transportation volume caused by the omicron variant in January. After the financial report was released, UPS stock price fell 3% in midday trading. The following is a summary of the Q1 quarterly report:

• Revenue increased 6.4% year-over-year to $24.38 billion, including growth in its domestic, international and supply chain segments, beating analysts' expectations of $23.78 billion;

• Revenue in the U.S. market increased by 7.7% year-on-year to US$15.1 billion, and the average daily package volume decreased by 3.3% to 611,000 packages per day, and the quarterly package volume reached 19.741 million.

• International market revenue increased by 13.1% year-on-year to US$5.4 billion, and the average daily package volume decreased by 3.7%, reaching 3.537 million packages in the quarter. Supply chain solution sales increased by 5.9% year-on-year to US$4.9 billion;

• Net income was $2.66 billion, and adjusted earnings per share were $3.05, compared with analysts' average estimate of $2.88 per share.

• Profits in the U.S. market increased by 16.5% year-on-year to $1.7 billion, and operating profit margin expanded by 90 basis points to 11.3%;

• The volume of delivered packages decreased by 3.6% year-on-year, but the average profit per package increased by 9.4% to US$13.26. Among them, the average profit per package in the US market increased by 9.5% year-on-year to US$11.97, and the average profit per package in the international market increased by 10.5% year-on-year to US$20.45.

UPS said that due to the surge in fuel and transportation costs, the volume of packages in the US market will decline in the first half of this year, and is expected to improve in the six months of the second half of the year. Although the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war in the first quarter affected UPS's business in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, the revenue of these three countries accounted for less than 1% of the total revenue. The average daily freight volume on the Europe-US route increased by 10.7%.

UPS's package delivery volume also fell in March 2022 compared to the same period last year. UPS CEO Carol Tomé said this was because many households received a round of federal stimulus consumer subsidies of up to $1,400 in March 2021. The subsidies increased UPS's average daily package delivery volume by 400,000 pieces in March 2021.

It is learned that due to the impact of the epidemic in Asia, UPS's delivery volume in overseas markets is also lower than expected. UPS has a hub in Shanghai, but as the epidemic becomes more severe, UPS has suspended international air imports from the United States to Shanghai and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions in East China.

UPS expects full-year revenue of $102 billion and profit of around $14 billion, and expects to achieve its operating margin and sales targets originally set for 2023 a year ahead of schedule. UPS expects consolidated adjusted profit margins of approximately 13.7% and adjusted return on invested capital of more than 30%. UPS also plans to double its share repurchases to $2 billion in 2022.

Editor ✎Estella/

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