UTi Shares Surge on Q4 Report

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UTi Worldwide Inc. on Thursday reported a dip in fourth quarter profit due to accelerated costs, but the stock price of the supply-chain logistics company surged 17 percent.


UTi reported fourth quarter net income of $18 million (18 cents per share), 20 percent off the same period a year earlier. The results barely missed analysts’ predictions of 19 cents per share, according to Thomson Financial.


Profit for the Long Beach logistics company was squeezed by a $6.2 million restructuring charge as well as increasing staff costs, the company said.


Revenue for the quarter ending Jan. 31 grew 24 percent to $1.18 billion, topping Wall Street’s expectations of $1.1 billion.


In February, the company said it would take cost-cutting steps including quitting its retail distribution business in Africa, exiting non-profitable contracts and reducing its global workforce by 7 percent.


UTi said in a separate release that it will have to restate results from fiscal 2007 and delay filing its annual report for fiscal 2008 because of a tax accounting mistake. The company said it overstated profit in fiscal 2007, which ended in January 2007, by about 4 cents per share.


UTi Worldwide plans to delay filing its annual report for fiscal 2008 as it fixes the mistake and added that the restatement does not affect how much cash it has or its financial position.


Shares in UTi were up $1.67 to $18.93 in early trading Thursday.

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