USA Truck Posts $9.1 Million Loss In 2013

by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) 98 views 

Efforts to turnaround USA Truck show signs of improvement, but the Van Buren-based trucking firm still posted a sizable $9.1 million loss in 2013.

The good news is that loss was nearly half of the red ink from the previous year.

USA Truck recorded a fourth quarter loss of $4.6 million, including one-time charges of $1.5 million related to a hostile takeover bid, on revenue of $141.4 million. One year ago, USA Truck posted a $3.2 million loss on revenue of $134.7 million.

“The fourth quarter capped a turning point year for USA Truck, with improvements in virtually every area of our business,” said President and CEO John Simone. “Our results reflect the growing positive momentum of our strategic plan, which focuses on three critical areas – operational execution, profitable revenue growth and cost effectiveness.”

For the full year, USA Truck saw its net loss shrink to $9.1 million from $17.6 million in 2012 on growing revenues of $555 million, up from $512.4 million one year ago.

For a major portion of 2013, USA Truck was embroiled in a hostile takeover bid by Phoenix-based Knight Transportation, which made a $9 per share bid for the Van Buren trucking firm. USA Truck’s board rejected the offer and earlier this month the two sides settled litigation brought against Knight.

USA Truck shares closed trading on Monday at $14.70. The company’s stock has floated between $4.37 and $16.38 during the past year.