UTi Worldwide 3Q profit rose 8.5 percent

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Freight logistics company UTi Worldwide Inc. said on Thursday its third-quarter profit rose 8.6 percent as cost-cutting offset declining freight forwarding volumes.

UTi posted net income of $37.9 million, or 38 cents per share, up from $34.9 million, or 35 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue rose 2.6 percent to $1.21 billion from $1.18 billion. It said its income from continuing operations was 36 cents per share in the latest period.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting a profit of 35 cents per share on revenue of $1.33 billion. Analyst expectations typically exclude certain charges.

The company said freight forwarding volumes fell throughout the quarter, specially airfreight, which shrank for the first time in many years. It said some of the airfreight weakness was market-related, but most was because the company dumped low-yielding business, the company said.

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