Vitran Reports Fourth-Quarter Loss

Vitran Corp. said Tuesday it lost $ $3.2 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with a profit of $1.7 million, or 12 cents, a year earlier.

The Toronto-based trucking and transportation firm said its revenue slipped 11.5% to $154.2 million.

Vitran has truckload, less-than-truckload and logistics operations in the United States and Canada. LTL segment revenue fell 14% to $127.1 million, and the unit took a loss of $4.7 million.

Logistics revenue rose slightly to $18.6 million, while income from operations rose to $1.4 million, fro $1.3 million.

Truckload segment revenue rose to $8.5 million from $8.3 million, while income from operations slipped to $299,000, from $559,000.

For the full year, net income was $4.6 million, or 34 cents per share, down from $13.7 million, or $1 per share, in 2007.

Full-year revenue rose 8.3% to $726.3 million. LTL revenue rose 4.5% and logistics revenue gained 53.3%.

Vitran is ranked No. 41 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.