USA Truck to Present at Stephens 2016 Fall Investment Conference
Earnings Watch: USA Truck Reports Quarterly Loss
The trucking company USA Truck reported on Friday that its financial picture turned slightly negative in the third quarter of the year as it continues to move to a more asset-light business.
Its net loss was $700,000 million, or 9 cents per share, compared to net income of $2.7 million, or earnings of 26 per share, a year earlier.
Revenue in the most recent quarter totaled $105.5 million compared to $123.5 million for the prior-year period. Revenue, which excludes fuel surcharges, was $94.7 million compared to $109.8 million for the 2015 period.
“We marked significant progress toward our goals of expanding the scope of USAT Logistics, improving service levels in our truckload business and reducing operating costs in the third quarter,” said President and CEO Randy Rogers. “Those gains were, and for the near term will likely be, offset by a weak freight environment and unfavorable comparisons versus prior periods due to the loss of certain dedicated account customers earlier this year.”
He said that while he's encouraged by the company's progress, USA recognizes the results have fallen short of goals and hopes to achieve substantial improvements in profitability as the Arkansas-based company moves into the 2017 bid season.
“One of our principal goals is for our higher margin, asset-light brokerage operations to contribute 50% of the company's consolidated revenue,” Rogers said. “In support of this objective, during the quarter we expanded its sales channels to include agents in secondary markets and since have consolidated operations from smaller, inefficient offices into our larger regional centers while maintaining existing client manager relationships.”
USA Truck said it achieved a modest improvement in loaded rate per mile to $1.725 despite the difficult rate environment. The company also said it posted a 4.3% decrease in operating expenses from the previous quarter to the lowest in more than four years.
“In light ...Read the rest of this story
Improving truck fuel economy with new engine oils
Here's a question for you: how much is a 1% gain in Class 8 fuel economy worth? Can you put a dollar figure to it?
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Trucking continues to post job gains, up 3,000 in October
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Continental Tire breaks ground for Mississippi plant
USA Truck Reports Third Quarter 2016 Results
Continental Tire Breaks Ground for New Mississippi Tire Plant
CLINTON, MISSISSIPPI -- Continental is investing more than $1.4 billion in a new truck tire manufacturing plant. The official groundbreaking ceremony took place on Wednesday. The facility is located in Hinds County off of Interstate 20, two miles from Clinton and 20 miles from the state capital of Jackson, and will employ about 2,500 people by the time it reaches full capacity in the next decade.
Continental expects to begin actual construction of the plant in 2018, following 18 months of clearing and preparation work at the 1,000-acre site.
"Building this new facility in Mississippi is a critical part of our growth strategy for Continental Tire, known as Vision 2025," said Nikolai Setzer, member of Continental's Executive Board and head of Continental's global tire business worldwide. "This is the first new plant, globally, for the truck tire business in more than ten years. We are convinced that the state of Mississippi provides the best options for Continental to grow our tire business."
Setzer says Continental looked at many prospective sites, including Mexico, before settling on Clinton Mississippi.
"We looked at the entire picture, including where our customers are and how we get raw material into the plant," he said. "We looked at economic and political stability, currency exchange rates, the availability of a skilled labor force, sources of training and even the size of the available land plots."
Continental says growth in its commercial vehicle tire business has consistently exceeded the market over the last five years and the company continues to see customer demand for its products -- both new truck and bus tires as well as retreads which are growing beyond the company's existing capacity.
“This plant is a significant step in addressing our commitment to grow our commercial vehicle tire business in North America,” said Paul Williams, executive vice president, commercial vehicle tire, ...Read the rest of this story