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Empresas y finanzas

American Express charge to hit Q4 profit


    NEW YORK (Reuters) - American Express Co said on Wednesday restructuring charges, related to closing down some locations in its global servicing network, would reduce its fourth-quarter earnings.

    The New York-based card payments company expects to record charges of $113 million, or $74 million after tax, reducing per-share earnings by 6 cents. About 550 jobs will be eliminated and some 3,500 existing jobs will be affected by the moves.

    The moves are expected to generate additional charges of $60 million to $80 million this year.

    With these expenses, American Express said it expects to report fourth-quarter net income of $1.1 billion, or 88 cents a share, up from $716 million, or 60 cents, in the year-ago period. Excluding the charges, earnings would be 94 cents a share.

    Analysts on average had expected American Express to earn 95 cents a share in the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S estimates.

    (Reporting by Joseph A. Giannone, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)