Swift Posts Decline in Profits, Freight Revenue for Second Quarter
Swift Transportation Co., North America’s largest truckload carrier, saw its profits and freight revenue decrease during the second quarter compared with the same time in 2016.
The Phoenix-based company posted net income of $26.3 million, or 20 cents a share, on quarterly revenue of $993.1 million. In the 2016 second quarter, Swift earned $42.9 million, or 32 cents, on revenue of $1.01 billion, the company said in a July 24 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Bloomberg News said the earnings consensus for Swift was 18 cents a share.
Among the company’s four major operating divisions, intermodal, the smallest, was the only one to increase revenue and operating income.
Dedicated contract carriage and refrigerated transportation each brought in more revenue for the quarter, but operating income dipped.
Truckload transportation, the company’s largest segment, posted year-over-year declines for revenue and operating income.
For quarterly revenue, fuel surcharges increased but not enough to cover all of the declines in basic freight revenue.
In notes to the SEC 10-Q, Swift said it anticipates completing its previously announced merger with Knight Transportation, another Phoenix-based truckload carrier, before Sept. 30.
For the quarter Swift had $5.16 million in merger-related costs.
Swift ranks No. 7 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of North American for-hire carriers, and Knight is No. 30.
