UTi Worldwide 2Q Profit Fell Nearly 65 Percent

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — UTi Worldwide Inc., which provides air and ocean-freight-forwarding services, said Thursday that its fiscal 2010 second-quarter profit fell nearly 65 percent to $11.8 million as sales plunged 33 percent.

The earnings for the quarter ended July 31 were equivalent to 12 cents a share, compared with a profit of $33.7 million, or 33 cents a share, a year earlier.

Severance and related charges had a negative impact in the current period of roughly 2 cents a share. Currency translation reduced the current period results by an additional 1 cent per share.

Revenue in the quarter fell to $840.5 million from $1.26 billion a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who generally exclude one-time items from their estimates, were expecting earnings of 17 cents a share on revenue of $847.3 million.