JOC Staff | Jun 02, 2011 8:58AM EDT
UTi Worldwide reported a 13.2 percent decline in net profit to $8.7 million in its fiscal first quarter ending April 30 as costs from restructuring global operations offset a 14 percent gain in revenue.
The California-based logistics operator said overall revenue reached nearly $1.2 billion and net revenue grew 12 percent to $410.6 million thanks to stronger air freight volume, improving contract logistics demand and weaker carrier pricing.
That left the operating profit down slightly from last year’s fiscal first quarter, to $18.8 million. But UTi said without the costs from what it calls its transformation project and from closing some logistics facilities in Europe, the operating profit would have grown 33 percent to $25.3 million and the net operating margin would have grown from 5.2 percent last year to 6.2 percent this year.
UTi’s air forwarding business grew far faster than the ocean forwarding, with the air freight gross revenue expanding 19 percent against only a 3.5 percent gain for maritime business.
