EXPEDITORS REPORTS 40% RISE IN 4TH QUARTER AND ANNUAL EARNINGS

EXPEDITORS REPORTS 40% RISE IN 4TH QUARTER AND ANNUAL EARNINGS    Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. reported a 40-percent jump in its net earnings for the quarter and year ended Dec. 31, 2000.
   For the latest quarter, earnings rose to $25.9 million, as compared to $18.6 million in the fourth quarter of 1999. Revenues increased by 10 percent, to $466.3 million, from $422.7 million. Net revenues were up by 24 percent, to $153.4 million, from $124.1 million.
   Operating income for the quarter increased by 33 percent, to $39.2 million, from $29.5 million in the fourth quarter of 1999.
   For the year, net earnings totaled $83 million, up from $59.2 million in 1999. Revenues increased by 17 percent, to $1.7 billion, from $1.4 billion. Net revenues were up by 24 percent, to $548.4 million, from $442.5 million in the previous year.
   The operating income last year rose by 37 percent, to $127.5 million, from $93.3 million in 1999.
   “We had a number of opportunities this past year to prove that we could ‘walk the walk’ as welll as ‘talk the talk’ with respect to sustainable profitable growth and market share expansion,” said Peter J. Rose, chairman and chief executive officer of Expeditors International.
   Rose said that, unlike most of its peer competitors, Expeditors did not go the way of acquisitions. “The more things change… the more we strive to stay the same,” he said. “Rather than follow, we’d committed to our traditional course.” Rose said that Expeditors was founded on simple, basic principles, including “best in class customer service.”
   Of the company’s annual gross revenues of $1.7 billion last year, $1 billion came from airfreight services, which recorded an 11-percent rise in revenues. Ocean freight and ocean services generated revenues of $473 million last year, up by 33 percent. Customs brokerage and import services produced revenues of $208 million, an increase of 21 percent.