UPS fourth quarter results not as high as anticipated

Last Friday, UPS announced that its shareholders would receive lower adjusted EPS (Earnings per Share) than initially anticipated owing to fourth quarter results that did not meet earlier projections.

Full-year adjusted diluted earnings per share are expected to be $4.57, somewhat lower than the previously provided guidance of $4.65 to $4.85.

UPS pointed to a compressed peak season and poor weather in December as key influences on final quarter results. In the US, there was an unprecedented surge of last minute orders which resulted in the company employing 85,000 more temporary personnel, 30,000 more than initially planned, in order to meet demand and delivery timescale expectations.

2013's peak day was 13% greater than the previous year: UPS delivered more than 31 million packages worldwide on their busiest day, December 23rd, which was six days later than expected.

The company is due to release its full Q4 results at the end of this month.