Grainger Announces Agreement to Sell E&R Industrial Sales, Inc.

The U.S. Postal Service today announced its financial results for the 2023 fiscal year ended September 30. The net loss totaled $6.5 billion, compared to net income of $56.0 billion for the prior year. The net income last year was due primarily to the one-time non-cash impact of the Postal Service Reform Act (PSRA) in April 2022 and the results this year were significantly affected by the impact of inflation on operating expenses. Results under GAAP include retiree benefits expense for the amortization of underfunded Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) plans, and workers’ compensation expenses caused by actuarial revaluation and discount rate changes, as well as the impact of the PSRA for the same period last year. The Postal Service reports its adjusted results excluding these costs. Total operating revenue was $78.2 billion for the year, a decrease of $321 million, or 0.4 percent, compared to the same period last year, as package revenue increases were offset by mail revenue declines. Revenue for the overall Shipping and Packages category increased $324 million, or 1.0 percent, on a volume decline of 175 million pieces, or 2.4 percent, compared to the same period last year. Marketing Mail revenue decreased $920 million, or 5.8 percent, on a volume decline of 7.7 billion pieces, or 11.4 percent, compared to the same period last year. Total operating expenses were $85.4 billion for the year, an increase of $5.8 billion, or 7.3 percent, compared to the same period last year.

For the Fourth Quarter of Fiscal 2021: *Net sales increased 24.1% to $2.7 billion compared to $2.2 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 due to the favorable impact from stronger consumer confidence and fewer COVID-19 restrictions compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020. *Comparable sales (sales for stores open at least 14 months, including stores temporarily closed due to COVID-19, and e-commerce sales) increased 21.4% compared to a decrease of 4.8% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, driven by a 10.4% increase in transactions and a 9.9% increase in average ticket. Compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019, comparable sales increased 15.4%. *Gross profit increased to $1.0 billion compared to $771.0 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020. As a percentage of net sales, gross profit increased to 37.6% compared to 35.1% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, primarily due to leverage of fixed costs, favorable channel mix shifts, and improvement in merchandise margins. *Net income increased to $289.4 million compared to $171.5 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020. Adjusted net income for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 was $193.4 million.

For the third quarter of 2018, total revenues increased 2.1 percent to $238.5 million compared with $233.7 million in the prior year period. On a comparable basis1 (adjusted for the sale of Fannie May Confection Brands, which closed on May 30, 2017) total revenues increased 10.2 percent. Comparable revenue growth was driven primarily by strong revenue growth of 8.9 percent in the Company’s Consumer Floral segment, combined with growth of 15.5 percent (adjusted for the sale of Fannie May) in the Company’s Gourmet Foods and Gift Baskets segment. Comparable revenue growth benefited from the shift of the Easter holiday into the period. Gross profit margin for the quarter was 39.2 percent, compared with 40.0 percent in the prior year period. Comparable gross profit margin for the prior year was 39.9 percent. Click Read More below for additional information.