When you are the world's largest package delivery company and a major in supply chain and freight services you must expect to get hit by a global slump. And UPS has just recorded that doleful story in its first quarter results. The company’s turnover dropped back 14.17% to US$10.9-billion from US$12.7-bn in the first quarter of 08. This was accompanied by a 51.81% plunge in its operating profits to US$718- million from US$1.49-bn last year. It was all the result of its average daily volume of parcels dropping 3.9% – from 15.13-m-a-day to 14.54-m. UPS is practising the usual cost-cutting exercises, including slimming its worldwide workforce – allowing it to become what UPS chairman and CEO Scott Davis described as “an even leaner, more efficient enterprise”. But he is optimistic about the company’s future. “UPS is making many improvements that are sustainable when the economic climate strengthens,” he said.
