FEDEX Corp, the second-largest United States package-shipping company, reported a fourth-quarter loss of US$241 million, reflecting rising fuel costs and a writedown on the FedEx Kinko's unit.

The net loss was 78 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of US$610 million, or US$1.96 a share, the Memphis, Tennessee-based company said yesterday in a statement. Revenue rose 7.8 percent, to US$9.87 billion. Shares fell in early New York trading as FedEx predicted a "very difficult" environment and gave an earnings forecast below analysts' estimates.

FedEx has been unable to raise surcharges fast enough to keep pace with fuel costs that have almost doubled the past 12 months, while a cooling US economy is curbing sales of the company's more expensive shipping options. Fuel expenses and slowing US demand are eroding growth prospects in industries ranging from shipping to airlines.

''FedEx is facing significant earnings headwinds from higher fuel prices, weak demand trends in domestic air express and customer trade down in services," Thomas Wadewitz, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co, wrote in a June 13 note to clients. Those pressures will continue "for at least a few more quarters," he said.

Excluding the charge for the Kinko's unit, which is being renamed FedEx Office, the company's profit was US$1.45 a share, which missed the average US$1.47 estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

FedEx fell 4.2 percent to US$80.76 at 8:07am on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares have fallen 5.4 percent this year through Tuesday amid investor concern that the slowing US economy will erode demand for express shipments.

FedEx said fiscal first-quarter earnings would be 80 cents to US$1, lower than the US$1.34 average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. The company said earnings are "difficult to predict" because of volatile fuel prices and an "uncertain economic outlook."

For the full year, FedEx Corp projected a profit at between US$4.75 and US$5.25 per share.