ABF CEO Declares Tough Year a Success
by February 4, 2002 12:00 am 91 views
Despite a drop in fourth-quarter and full-year earnings from the previous year, Arkansas Best Corp. of Fort Smith considers 2001 a success considering the economic road blocks the industry has faced.
ABC announced on Jan. 22 that its fourth-quarter net income fell from $21.9 million in 2000 to $9.5 million in 2001 and its full-year net income dropped from $76.2 million in 2000 to $41.4 million in 2001.
The figures varied for many reasons, including ABC selling subsidiary Treadco Inc. to Wingfoot Commercial Tire Systems LLC of Fort Smith on Oct. 31, 2000.
ABC President and CEO Robert Young III said the hard economic times were only partly to the blame for the decline.
“Arkansas Best generated solid results during what has been a very challenging year for our country, both from an economic standpoint and as we have faced direct attacks upon our democracy,” Young said. “During a period when our company has experienced some of the most significant business level declines in our history, we are proud of the solid earnings that were produced during 2001.”
ABF Freight System Inc., the largest subsidiary of ABC, had a drop in revenue from $345 million in the fourth quarter of 2000 to $302 in the same period of 2001. ABF’s fourth-quarter 2001 tonnage per day declined 12.2 percent during the same period in 2000. Its LTL shipments per day in two-day transit time lanes declined 8.2 percent, and its long haul business decreased 11.5 percent.
“I continue to be pleased with ABF’s results in the current period of economic uncertainty,” Young said. “Despite experiencing tonnage and revenue levels considerably below those in the fourth quarter of 2000, ABF continued to keep its costs in line with available freight.
“I can now say that ABF’s profitability during one of the most difficult operating environments in our history has produced numbers significantly better than those generated by the other national LTL companies during the best of economic times.”
Chicago-based Clipper, another ABC subsidiary, also suffered a fourth-quarter loss due to declines in tonnage and revenue.