Arkansas Best Turns Corner To Profitability
by January 30, 2014 9:32 am 72 views
Arkansas Best appears to have turned the corner.
The Fort Smith-based less-than-truckload trucking firm posted fourth quarter net income of $10.3 million, a big swing from last year’s fourth quarter loss of $7.9 million. Revenue rose to $578.55 million during the quarter, up from $537.04 million last year.
For the full year, Arkansas Best recorded profits of $15.8 million, a major turnaround from a $7.7 million loss in 2012. Revenues rose to $2.99 billion for the full year, an improvement from $2.06 billion one year ago.
In the last year, Arkansas Best has diversified its operations beefing up its Panther Expedited Services, a new logistics arm of the company, as well as working out a new agreement with its labor force, the Teamsters Union.
The savings from the new labor contract is expected to result in savings of between $55 million and $65 million a year. The savings come from an immediate 7% wage reduction that is recovered by the fifth year of the contract. The wage and benefit reductions were set to begin Nov. 3. The company was also able to negotiate for flexibility in work schedules and work across job classifications. Most of those workers are drivers.
“After a very challenging year in which we negotiated and implemented a new five-year labor agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, I am very pleased to report that ABF Freight ended the year with solid profitability, substantially reversing the unacceptable trend of losses in 2012,” said Arkansas Best CEO Judy McReynolds. “While that lengthy process was ongoing, we continued to make important strategic investments in our emerging businesses, all of which reported increased revenues and are well positioned for additional growth in 2014.”
Arkansas Best stock closed trading on Wednesday at $32.22 per share. The company’s stock has traded between $9.62 and $35.96 per share during the past year.