FedEx to Book $2.2 Billion Pension Accounting Charge--Update

By Chelsey Dulaney 

FedEx Corp. said Friday that it will book a $2.2 billion pretax charge in its most recently ended quarter as a result of its decision to switch to a pension accounting method that it said makes it easier to gauge plan performance.

FedEx joins dozens of companies, such as AT&T Inc., that have adopted mark-to-market pension accounting in the last few years. The method allows pension gains and losses to flow into earnings sooner than under old rules, which allow companies to smooth out the impact over several years.

FedEx said it would now recognize actuarial gains and losses in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year rather than amortizing them over several years, making its operating performance easier to understand and more transparent.

Net of tax, the charge is valued at $1.4 billion, or $4.88 a share. Before the announcement, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected FedEx to post $2.68 a share in adjusted earnings in its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended in May.

FedEx said the plan won't impact its employees' pension benefits or the company's cash flows.

FedEx said it also booked a charge of 47 cents a share in the fourth quarter related to a $228 million settlement in a long-running independent contractor lawsuit. FedEx has tussled for years over its practice of classifying its U.S. delivery drivers as independent contractors.

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