MEMPHIS, Tenn. _ FedEx temporarily halted trading of its shares Wednesday after experiencing a significant disruption from an information system virus at its Europe-based TNT Express subsidiary.
It's the second such disruption in seven weeks, coming after some company computers were hit by a worldwide ransomware campaign May 12.
Memphis-based FedEx said no data breach was known to have occurred with the latest incident and that operations of all other FedEx operating companies were not affected.
Trading was suspended for about 50 minutes around midday on the New York Stock Exchange, while the company prepared to release a statement. The statement said the impact wasn't known but could be material to financial results.
TNT Express, based in the Netherlands, was among the European-based companies that reported interference with computer systems on Tuesday. The issue was linked to a worldwide ransomware attack that turned up first in Ukraine.
"FedEx Corporation (FDX) today announced that the worldwide operations of its TNT Express subsidiary have been significantly affected due to the infiltration of an information system virus," a company statement said.
The statement said the company was experiencing delays in TNT Express intercontinental deliveries and a slowdown in TNT domestic country and regional networks .
"We cannot measure the financial impact of this service disruption at this time, but it could be material," the statement said.
In May, FedEx was one of numerous companies around the world affected by a cyberattack by a program known as WannaCry. The company later said the incident disrupted package sorting at the FedEx Express world hub at Memphis International Airport.
There was no reference to a financial impact from the May 12 incident during the last earnings report.
The latest incident comes as FedEx continues to knit together its global pickup and delivery network with that of TNT Express, the largest acquisition in FedEx history at $4.9 billion.
TNT Express serves 200 countries and adds about a million packages a day to the FedEx global network.
Certain IT upgrades linking FedEx and TNT package delivery networks were completed during the March-to-May quarter, FedEx president and chief operating officer David Bronczek said during a quarterly earnings call earlier this month.
FedEx and TNT operations were integrated in 64 countries by May 31, Bronczek said. The United States and Canada will be completed this month, and Japan, Spain and the United Arab Emirates by year's end, he added.
