HispanicBusiness

FedEx Corp. on Wednesday reported third quarter earnings of $1.23 a share, excluding one-time items, down about 20 percent from a year earlier and slightly below the company's projections.

Counting about $47 million in non-recurring expense, primarily related to a voluntary buyout program for U.S. officers and managing directors, earnings were $1.13 a share.

Last year's December-February quarter yielded earnings of $1.55 a share, excluding one-time items.

Frederick W. Smith, FedEx Corp. chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in a company release: "The third quarter was very challenging due to continued weakness in international air freight markets, pressure on yields due to industry overcapacity and customers selecting less expensive and slower-transit services. In response, beginning April 1, FedEx Express will decrease capacity to and from Asia and will aggressively manage traffic flows to place low yielding traffic in lower cost networks. We are currently assessing how these actions may allow FedEx Express to retire more of its older, less-efficient aircraft as part of our aircraft fleet modernization program begun several years ago. We remain focused on our strategic cost reduction programs, which are ramping up and on track."