UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC
For the period ended Sep 30, 2024. Filed Nov 6, 2024.
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A company's report for each of its first three quarters. The financial statements are not audited. It shows how the business has moved since the last annual report, and what management says changed.
Sep 30, 2024 · Filed Nov 6, 2024
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Results of Operations - Segment Review
The results and discussions that follow are reflective of how management monitors and evaluates the performance of our segments as defined in note 13 to the unaudited, consolidated financial statements.
Certain operating expenses are allocated between our reporting segments using activity-based costing methods. These activity-based costing methods require us to make estimates that impact the amount of each expense category that is attributed to each segment. Changes in these estimates would directly impact the amount of expense allocated to each segment and therefore the operating profit of each reporting segment. Our allocation methodologies are refined periodically, or as necessary to reflect changes in our businesses. While there were no significant changes to our allocation methodologies in the third quarter of 2024, the costs allocated to Supply Chain Solutions increased. The air network expense allocated to Supply Chain Solutions increased by $182 million (up $204 million year to date) primarily driven by block hours associated with air cargo volume and associated ramp up costs from our previously-announced agreement with the USPS, as we continued to onboard this volume. We anticipate this expense will increase in the remainder of the year as the related volume attributable to this agreement increases.
As a normal part of managing our air network, we routinely idle aircraft and engines temporarily for maintenance or to adjust network capacity. As a result of the reduction in air volumes, we temporarily idled certain aircraft within our network in order to better match capacity with current demand. Temporarily idled assets are classified as held-and-used, and we continue to record depreciation expense for these assets. As of September 30, 2024, we had five aircraft temporarily idled for an average period of approximately six months. We expect these aircraft to return to revenue service in the fourth quarter of 2024.
We test goodwill for impairment annually at July 1 and between annual tests if an event occurs or circumstances change that would indicate that it is more likely than not that the carrying value thereof may be impaired. Testing goodwill for impairment requires that we make a number of significant assumptions, including assumptions related to future revenues, costs, capital expenditures, working capital, our cost of capital, long-term growth rates and market comparables. We are also required to make assumptions relating to our overall business and operating strategy, and the regulatory and market environment.
We conducted our most recent goodwill impairment testing as of July 1, 2024 and concluded that the fair values of our reporting units were in excess of their respective carrying values. Approximately $1.2 billion of our consolidated goodwill balance of $4.4 billion is represented by our Global Freight Forwarding, Roadie and Global Logistics and Distribution reporting units which, based on our annual impairment evaluation, are exhibiting a limited excess of fair value above carrying value and reflect a greater risk of an impairment occurring in future periods. We do not expect any impairment would have a significant impact on our consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
We continued to monitor our reporting units subsequent to the annual test and while we do not believe it is more likely than not that our reporting units' fair values are less than their carrying values as of September 30, 2024, challenging macroeconomic and uncertain geopolitical conditions, actual reporting unit performance, revisions to our forecasts of future performance or other factors, including market comparables, may negatively impact certain estimates and assumptions that we use in determining our reporting units' fair values. Such impacts may be more pronounced for reporting units whose fair values do not significantly exceed their carrying values. These factors or a combination thereof could result in an impairment charge in one or more of our reporting units during a future period. We continue to monitor business performance and external factors affecting our reporting units.
U.S. Domestic Package
| Three Months Ended September 30, · Change · Nine Months Ended September 30, · Change | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 · 2023 · $ · % · 2024 · 2023 · $ · % | |||||||||||||
| Average Daily Package Volume (in thousands): | |||||||||||||
| Next Day Air | 1,596 | 1,679 | (4.9)% | 1,582 | 1,699 | (6.9)% | |||||||
| Deferred | 988 | 1,078 | (8.3)% | 1,008 | 1,102 | (8.5)% | |||||||
| Ground | 15,823 | 14,529 | 8.9% | 15,526 | 15,102 | 2.8% | |||||||
| Total Average Daily Package Volume | 18,407 | 17,286 | 6.5% | 18,116 | 17,903 | 1.2% | |||||||
| Average Revenue Per Piece: | |||||||||||||
| Next Day Air | $23.46 | $22.42 | $1.04 | 4.6% | $23.24 | $22.31 | $0.93 | 4.2% | |||||
| Deferred | 17.54 | 16.61 | 0.93 | 5.6% | 17.51 | 16.59 | 0.92 | 5.5% | |||||
| Ground | 10.81 | 11.10 | (0.29) | (2.6)% | 10.93 | 11.20 | (0.27) | (2.4)% | |||||
| Total Average Revenue Per Piece | $12.27 | $12.54 | $(0.27) | (2.2)% | $12.37 | $12.59 | $(0.22) | (1.7)% | |||||
| Operating Days in Period | 64 | 63 | 191 | 191 | |||||||||
| Revenue (in millions): | |||||||||||||
| Next Day Air | $2,396 | $2,372 | $24 | 1.0% | $7,021 | $7,240 | $(219) | (3.0)% | |||||
| Deferred | 1,109 | 1,128 | (19) | (1.7)% | 3,372 | 3,491 | (119) | (3.4)% | |||||
| Ground | 10,945 | 10,160 | 785 | 7.7% | 32,410 | 32,312 | 98 | 0.3% | |||||
| Total Revenue | $14,450 | $13,660 | $790 | 5.8% | $42,803 | $43,043 | $(240) | (0.6)% | |||||
| Operating Expenses (in millions): | |||||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | $13,552 | $13,089 | $463 | 3.5% | $40,091 | $39,404 | $687 | 1.7% | |||||
| Non-GAAP adjustments to operating expenses | |||||||||||||
| Transformation Strategy Costs | (76) | (33) | (43) | 130.3% | (93) | (134) | 41 | (30.6)% | |||||
| One-Time Compensation Payment | — | (61) | 61 | (100.0)% | — | (61) | 61 | (100.0)% | |||||
| Goodwill and Asset Impairment Charges | — | — | — | N/A | (5) | — | (5) | N/A | |||||
| Non-GAAP Adjusted Operating Expenses | $13,476 | $12,995 | $481 | 3.7% | $39,993 | $39,209 | $784 | 2.0% | |||||
| Operating Profit (in millions) and Operating Margin: | |||||||||||||
| Operating Profit | $898 | $571 | $327 | 57.3% | $2,712 | $3,639 | $(927) | (25.5)% | |||||
| Non-GAAP Adjusted Operating Profit | $974 | $665 | $309 | 46.5% | $2,810 | $3,834 | $(1,024) | (26.7)% | |||||
| Operating Margin | 6.2% | 4.2% | 6.3% | 8.5% | |||||||||
| Non-GAAP Adjusted Operating Margin | 6.7% | 4.9% | 6.6% | 8.9% | |||||||||
Revenue
The change in revenue was due to the following:
| Volume | Rates /Product Mix | FuelSurcharge | Total RevenueChange | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue Change Drivers: | ||||
| Third quarter 2024 vs. 2023 | 8.1% | (2.4)% | 0.1% | 5.8% |
| Year to date 2024 vs. 2023 | 1.2% | (1.4)% | (0.4)% | (0.6)% |
Comparative results were impacted by one additional operating day in the third quarter of 2024.
Volume
For the quarter, we had strong volume growth, the highest growth rate in more than three years. In addition, the average daily volume increased across all major customer segments, despite the expected decline of our largest customer. In both the quarter and year-to-date periods, the increase in volume occurred in multiple industries and was led by additional e-commerce customers and SMBs leveraging our Digital Access Program. Challenging macroeconomic conditions, including continued weakness in manufacturing output, partially offset the volume increases. We anticipate that average daily volume will increase in the fourth quarter relative to the comparative period, primarily driven by volume from SMBs, including those leveraging our Digital Access Program.
Business-to-consumer volume increased 11.0% in the quarter (up 4.5% year to date), due primarily to volume from the additional e-commerce customers noted above, and continued growth in online consumer spending.
Business-to-business volume increased 0.8% for the quarter (down 3.2% year to date). An increase in retail and healthcare volume drove the overall increase in business-to-business volume for the quarter but was more than offset year to date by declines in volume attributable to challenging macroeconomic factors and slowdown in manufacturing activity.
Within our Air products, average daily volume decreased in both the quarter and year-to-date periods, driven by the continued execution under the contract terms with our largest customer. The impact of other large customers making trade-offs to our ground products also contributed to the decline for the year-to-date period.
Ground commercial shipment average daily volume increased 1.1% for the quarter (down 3.1% year to date), primarily driven by an increase in volume from SMBs for the quarter, including continued growth within our Digital Access Program. Overall Ground residential volumes increased 15.4% for the quarter (up 7.6% year to date), primarily due to an increase in SurePost volume from new e-commerce customers.
Revenue Per Piece
Revenue per piece declined 2.2% for the quarter due to customer and product mix, lighter weight, and increase in shorter zone shipments. There was a 40-basis-point sequential improvement in the revenue per piece growth rate from the second quarter, supported by pricing actions we took to address revenue quality.
Revenue per piece from our Air products increased for both the quarter and year-to-date periods, while revenue per piece from our Ground products declined for both periods. In December 2023, we implemented an average 5.9% net increase in base and accessorial rates for both our Air and Ground products, which favorably impacted revenue per piece. In addition to these rate changes, revenue per piece for Air and Ground products were also impacted by decreases in average billable weight per piece for Air and Ground products and an increase in shorter zone shipments, unfavorable shifts in product mix and decreases in fuel surcharge revenue for Ground products.
We anticipate the year-over-year revenue per piece growth rate will improve in the fourth quarter due in part to delivery surcharges on both Air and Ground products, while base rates, fuel, and product and customer mix impact are expected to be neutral in total.
Fuel Surcharges
We apply a fuel surcharge on our domestic air and ground services that adjusts weekly. Our air fuel surcharge is based on the U.S. Department of Energy's ("DOE") Gulf Coast spot price for a gallon of kerosene-type fuel, and our ground fuel surcharge is based on the DOE's On-Highway Diesel Fuel price.
Fuel surcharge revenue increased $12 million for the quarter (down $184 million year to date). Increases in volume and the impact of our pricing initiatives contributed to the increase in fuel surcharge revenue for the quarter, which were more than offset by the decrease in price per gallon for the year-to-date period.
Based on the current commodity market outlook, we expect fuel surcharge revenue to increase year over year during the fourth quarter of 2024.
Operating expenses and non-GAAP adjusted operating expenses increased for both the quarter and year-to-date periods. Pickup and delivery costs increased $401 million in the quarter (up $1.1 billion year to date), package sortation costs increased $101 million in the quarter (up $267 million year to date) and other operating costs increased $51 million for the quarter (down $201 million year to date). In addition to the impact from one additional operating day and the average daily volume increase of 6.5% during the third quarter, these increases were driven by:
An increase in compensation and benefits expense in both periods (partially offset by a decrease in worker's compensation expense in both periods) which was driven by the impact of wage rate increases for our union workforce under our IBT contract (became effective August 1, 2023), as well as an increase in direct labor hours driven by additional volume. During the quarter, union wage-rate growth slowed to 5.2% year over year. We anticipate compensation and benefits expense growth will continue to moderate in the fourth quarter of 2024 as union wage rate increases in the IBT contract as of August 1, 2024 are lower than in the prior year period.
An increase in purchased transportation expense primarily due to higher third-party delivery expense required to deliver increased SurePost volume.
These increases were partially offset by a decrease of $72 million in the costs of operating our integrated air and ground network in the quarter (down $370 million year to date), and a decrease in other operating costs of $200 million year to date. These reductions were primarily driven by:
Actions we took to drive productivity partially offset the increase in compensation and benefits expense discussed above. For example, through our Network of the Future initiative, this year we have completed 45 operational closures, contributing to an improvement in pieces per workforce hour. Production improvements offset approximately 50% of the union wage rate increase.
A reduction in aircraft block hours for both periods resulting from lower air volume and network optimization.
The positive impact of our ground network optimization initiatives, for example, the enhancements we made to our proximity matching algorithm which enables us to redirect more SurePost packages into our network, driving delivery density which reduces the incremental cost of delivery.
A reduction in fuel expense for both periods, driven by decreases in the cost and consumption for jet and ground fuels,
Benefits from our Fit to Serve initiative, and a reduction in expenses allocated to the business in the year-to-date period, offset by a reduction in gains on real estate sales relative to the comparative period.
Our non-GAAP adjusted operating expenses exclude the impact of transformation strategy costs which were $76 million for the quarter ($93 million year to date) for U.S. Domestic Package. Transformation strategy costs reflected within U.S. Domestic during these periods are related to our Fit to Serve and Transformation 2.0 programs. Within both programs, we incurred compensation and benefits costs related to workforce reductions as we right-size our business. Within Transformation 2.0, we incurred fees paid to outside professional service providers. See Supplemental Information - Items Affecting Comparability for additional discussion of items excluded from our non-GAAP financial measures.
Cost per piece decreased 4.3% for the quarter (up 0.6% year to date), and non-GAAP adjusted cost per piece decreased 4.1% for the quarter (up 0.8% year to date). The decrease in cost per piece for the quarter was primarily driven by higher average daily volume compared to the same period of 2023, combined with slower union wage-rate growth under the terms of the IBT contract, additional benefits from the network optimization efforts and a decrease in workers' compensation as discussed above. For the year-to-date period, higher wage rate increases for our union workforce led to an increase in cost per piece, partially offset by decreases in workers' compensation and changes in average daily volume discussed above. We anticipate the cost per piece growth rate will moderate for the remainder of the year based on our anticipated increase in average daiily volume as discusses above and lower wage rate increases as compared to the prior period, now that we have entered the second year of the IBT contract.
As a result of the factors described above, operating profit increased $327 million for the quarter (down $927 million year to date), with operating margin increasing 200 basis points to 6.2% (down 220 basis points to 6.3% year to date). Non-GAAP adjusted operating profit increased $309 million for the quarter (down $1.0 billion year to date), with non-GAAP adjusted operating margin increasing 180 basis points to 6.7% (down 230 basis points to 6.6% year to date). Non-GAAP adjusted operating profit excludes the impact of operating expense adjustments discussed above.
The text of this filing, as the company filed it with the SEC, without its images or exhibits. This is not investment advice.