Knight’s 4Q Income Declines

Truckload carrier Knight Transportation’s fourth-quarter profit fell 18.6% to $13.1 million, or 16 cents a share, compared with $16.1 million, or 19 cents, a year ago.

Revenue dropped 4% to $167.8 million, from $174.8 million a year ago, the company said late Wednesday. Revenue excluding fuel surcharges fell 0.2% to $143.9 million.

“We continue to be reminded of how challenging the current truckload environment is with the news of trucking company failures, despite having been in the seasonally stronger part of the year,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Knight.

“We expect the challenging truckload market to yield opportunities to continue to capture market share over time,” he said in a statement.

For the full 2009 year, income fell 10.1% to $50.6 million, or 60 cents, compared with $56.3 million, or 66 cents, in the previous year.

Revenue for the year decreased to $651.7 million, compared with $766.9 million in 2008.

Knight is ranked No. 38 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.