U.S. Xpress Reports Improved 1Q Income, Revenue

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ruckload carrier U.S. Xpress Enterprises said late Monday its first-quarter income rose to $734,000 or 5 cents a share, compared with a loss of $2.1 million or 13 cents a year earlier.

Revenue rose 11.4% to $299.7 million, and truckload operating income jumped 141.2% to $4.4 million, the company said.

In February, U.S. Xpress acquired additional equity in two carriers: Arnold Transportation and Total Transportation, boosting its interest in each to 80% from 49%. (Click here for previous coverage.)

The company’s Xpress Global Systems’ revenue fell to $22.4 million from $41 million, primarily due to U.S. Xpress’ exit from its airport-to-airport business last year.

“Although we faced a slightly weaker truckload freight environment than expected, especially along the west coast, we achieved improvements in operating income in our truckload segment through increased pricing and from the contributions of Arnold and Total,” Co-Chairman Patrick Quinn said in a statement.

Quinn is also chairman of American Trucking Associations.

U.S. Xpress is ranked No. 22 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.