C.H. Robinson First-Quarter Revenue Rises 11.1%
First-quarter revenue for C.H. Robinson Worldwide, North America’s largest freight broker, increased by 11.1%, but profitability was a mixed picture, with operating income declining 5.5% as net income rose 2.6% because of a fall in income taxes.
All three major divisions of the Eden Prairie, Minn.-based logistics provider remained profitable but at lower levels than a year ago, according to its April 25 earnings statement.
Robinson ranks No. 5 on the Transport Topics Top 50 list of logistics companies.
As a whole, Robinson posted net income of $122.1 million, or 86 cents a share, on quarterly revenue of $3.42 billion. During the first three months of 2016, the company earned $119 million, or 83 cents, on global sales of $3.07 billion.
Net revenue — gross sales less the cost of purchased transportation — inched up 0.9% to $568.6 million from $563.3 million in the 2016 quarter.
The statement characterized the first quarter as “volume growth across all of our transportation services.”
Quarterly net revenue declined for truckload shipping, by 5.5%, and for intermodal, by 19.1%. It increased, year-over-year, for six other services and overall for Robinson.
The company’s quarterly provision for income taxes fell 20.6% to $56.6 million from $71.2 million. The Robinson statement attributed the fall to its adoption of an accounting standards update on stock compensation. The update was published by the Financial Accounting Standards Board in March 2016.
Robinson’s largest segment is North American Surface Transportation, including truckload, less-than-truckload and intermodal. It generates a majority of revenue and operating income.
Its two other main units are Robinson Fresh for buying, selling and marketing fresh fruits and vegetables and other perishables, and Global Forwarding for air, ocean and customs work.
