J.B. Hunt shareholders appoint Shelley Simpson to company board

Lowell-based carrier J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. hosted its annual shareholders meeting on Thursday (April 25) in less than nine minutes. Shareholders approved three items, including President Shelley Simpson’s appointment to the company’s board of directors.

Shareholders also reelected eight existing board members to the company’s nine-member board, approved the company’s executive pay for 2023 and appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC as the company’s accounting firm for 2024.

After the shareholders meeting, Simpson discussed company highlights in 2023 and 2024 priorities. Simpson will become CEO when John Roberts retires on July 1. Roberts will become board chairman. Existing chairman Kirk Thompson and board member Wayne Garrison will transition to honorary founding directors.

The following board members were reelected, with terms ending at the 2025 shareholders meeting: Roberts, Francesca Edwardson, Sharilyn Gasaway, Thad Hill, Bryan Hunt Jr., Persio Lisboa, Patrick Ottensmeyer and James Robo.

In her remarks, Simpson noted the company’s record year for safety, including a 25% reduction in Department of Transportation preventable accidents per million miles from 2022. She said the company is more than halfway to its goal to reduce carbon emissions intensity by 32% by 2034 from 2019 levels. She added that the company’s dedicated and final mile segments had record operating income in 2023. Also, the company acquired the brokerage assets of BNSF Logistics and expanded intermodal offerings with BNSF, including Quantum and Mexico services.

“Our leadership team has developed a strategic plan for the year that will guide us in driving long-term value for our people, customers and shareholders,” Simpson said. “Our priorities focus on delivering exceptional customer value through operational excellence, supply chain efficiency and maintaining high safety standards. We will remain diligent and innovative in our effort to scale growth to align with investments in capacity, people and technology. The growth of our business means long-term returns for our shareholders, resulting in a stronger J.B. Hunt.”

On April 16, J.B. Hunt reported first-quarter earnings declined by 35.5% to $127.49 million from $197.76 million in the same period last year. Revenue declined by 8.8% to $2.94 billion from $3.22 billion.

Earnings fell by 24.9% to $728.28 million in 2023, down from $969.35 million in 2022. Revenue decreased by 13.4% to $12.82 billion from $14.81 billion in 2022.

Shares of J.B. Hunt (NASDAQ: JBHT) were trading mid-morning Thursday at $163.76, down 87 cents or 0.53%. In the past 52 weeks, the stock has ranged between $160.07 and $219.51.