Weaker freight market conditions drove net income down 16% at less-than-truckload carrier Saia Inc., which reported a profit of $11.4 million, or 45 cents a share, and Echo Global Logistics Inc. earnings declined 64% to $1.7 million, or 6 cents a share, hurt by acquisition-related costs.
Revenue fell 7% to $287.6 million at Georgia-based Saia, which ranks No. 26 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers. The drop-off reflected an 8.9% decline in LTL tonnage and 6.2% less tonnage carried.
One bright spot was a 2.1% rise in revenue per 100 pounds of freight, including fuel surcharge.
“We enter 2016 with some uncertainty regarding the health of the industrial economy,” Saia CEO Rick O’Dell said in a statement. “We will continue to focus on the elements of the business we can control.”
The message was the same at Echo and consistent with commentary from other freight industry companies during the current earnings cycle that began in mid-January. The result was a mix of earnings, with relatively stronger results at logistics companies and an overall decline in earnings in the truckload and LTL sectors.
“While the freight environment has been relatively soft, I am very pleased with our ability to continue to grow market share and expand net revenue margins,” Echo CEO Douglas Waggoner said.
Echo’s results were affected by last year's acquisition of Command Logistics, another Chicago area broker. Revenue at Echo was 36% higher at $407.2 million.
Net revenue, or the amount left after paying for transportation, improved 48% to $80.1 million, and the net revenue margin strengthened at 19.7%, up from 18.1%.
Excluding a variety of costs, Echo’s earnings were 28 cents per share, up from the 2014 quarter results of $4.7 million, or 25 cents.
The costs that lowered earnings by 22 cents per share included acquisition fees, stock compensation and amortization.
Echo also disclosed that it is transitioning toward more truckload transactional business.
Nearly 70% of fourth-quarter shipments were truckload, up from 53.5%. Freight managed under contract declined 7% in the quarter, and transactional business rose 50%.
