Mounting Losses Drive USA Truck $17.5 Million In The Red
by January 31, 2013 8:40 am 83 views
USA Truck added another quarter of pain to its 2012 financial performance. In the fourth quarter the Van Buren-based trucking firm posted a $3.1 million loss to bring its full year losses to more than $17.5 million.
The quarterly performance was an improvement from a year ago when USA Truck reported a $4.3 million loss, but the full year results were a 62% decline from 2011’s net loss of $10.77 million.
Revenue for the trucking firm improved during the quarter to $134.7 million, up from $126.2 million in last year’s comparable quarter. Full year revenue declined slightly from $519.4 million to $512.4 million.
USA Truck has fended off a hostile takeover bid in recent years and the company has brought in new management to steer a turnaround after more than a year of negative earnings. Turnaround specialist Robert Peiser became Chairman of the Board in November and trucking executive Thomas Glaser was brought in late last year as interim COO while USA Truck conducted a national search for a permanent operations leader.
The board of directors also adopted new provisions last year to guard against an unsolicited takeover attempt.
Company leaders explained that despite the financial setbacks, the firm was in a satisfactory position to weather the storm.
“We believe our balance sheet and sources of liquidity are adequate to support our operating needs for the foreseeable future,” said CEO Cliff Beckham. “At December 31, 2012, our outstanding debt, less cash, represented 55.1% of our balance sheet capitalization, compared to 47.4% at December 31, 2011. At December 31, 2012, we were in compliance with our new, five-year $125.0 million revolving credit facility and had approximately $19.9 million of available borrowing capacity.”
USA Truck shares (NASDAQ: USAK) closed trading on Wednesday at $5.57. The company’s stock has traded between $2.65 and $9.24 during the past 52 weeks.