Arkansas Best’s 1Q Profit Dips on Pension Charge

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rkansas Best Corp., the parent of less-than-truckload carrier ABF Freight System, said Monday its first-quarter profit fell to $6.1 million or 24 cents a share, from $10.5 million or 41 cents a year earlier.

img src="/sites/default/files/images/articles/arkansasbestlogo.gif" width=70 align=right>Excluding a $5.1 million or 20 cents per-share pension settlement charge, the company would have posted earnings of 44 cents a share, it said in a statement.

Revenue rose 8% to $450.6 million, while operating expenses rose 11% to $442.2 million.

ABF Freight System, the company’s largest subsidiary, saw its revenue rise to $413.7 million from $384.1 million, a per-day increase of 7.7% over the previous fourth quarter.

The unit’s operating income was $8.4 million, down from $17.2 million a year earlier. Excluding the settlement charge, income would have been $16.8 million this year. Per-day tonnage rose 4.4%.

The Clipper intermodal and freight forwarding unit’s revenue rose 9.5% to $25.7 million. Operating income was $506,000, compared with a loss of $23,000 a year earlier.

Arkansas Best is ranked No. 17 on the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies.