United Parcel Service Inc Monday reported a 21- per-cent drop in profits, caused by rising fuel costs and a slowing economy, which have affected both domestic and international package segments, according to dpa. UPS, the world's largest package-delivery company, reported net income of 873 million dollars, compared with a profit of 1.1 billion dollars last year. Revenue rose 6.7 per cent to 13 billion dollars, according to a company statement. "Slow US economic activity and fuel price increases hit us and our customers during the quarter," said Kurt Kuehn, the company's chief financial officer. "Even though economists do not predict a recovery until 2009, we anticipate that the second half of 2008 will generate modestly better results than the first half, assuming business conditions do not worsen." UPS has continued to expand its global investments - setting up its largest ground hub outside the United States at Tamworth, United Kingdom. It also announced the construction of an intra-Asia hub in Shenzhen, China and bought out its joint venture partner in Korea. UPS controls about 51 per cent of the US package-delivery market, FedEx has 31 per cent of the market, while the US Postal Service and DHL control 13 and 5 per cent respectively, Bloomberg financial news agency reported.
