(RTTNews) - Arkansas Best Corp.
(ABFS), a transportation holding company, on Wednesday reported that its first-quarter profit surged from last year, reflecting strong revenue growth in its largest subsidiary ABF Freight System.
The Fort Smith, Arkansas-based company's first-quarter net income rose to $8.54 million or $0.34 per share from $4.80 million or $0.19 per share in the prior year quarter.
On average, 9 analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial expected the company to report $0.18 per share for the quarter.
The company's pre-tax income was $14.12 million, higher than $7.87 million a year ago.
Arkansas Best's first-quarter revenue grew to $447.51 million from $427.81 million in the first quarter of last year. Six Wall Street analysts estimated revenue of $433.76 million.
ABF Freight System, Inc. reported first quarter revenue of $427.75 million, a per-day increase of 4.5% from prior year revenue of $412.62 million.
The company's total consolidated operating income increased to $13.15 million from prior year's 6.78 million. ABF Freight System's operating income rose to $12.88 million from $5.78 million in 2007, and its operating ratio improved to 97.0% from 98.6% last year.
Shipments in the quarter declined 3.4% to 1.29 million units from 1.33 million units in the previous year. Tonnage was 818,131 tones, down 1.2% from 828,335 tons in 2007.
Total billed revenue per hundredweight in this year's first quarter was $26.32, an increase of 4.8% from last year's first quarter figure of $25.11.
Commenting on the results, President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Davidson said, 'During the first three months of this year, ABF displayed solid execution and provided excellent service to our customers in the midst of what continues to be a difficult freight environment. Though business levels remain depressed, quarterly year-over-year tonnage trends have continued to improve since the third quarter of 2007. ABF continues to benefit from additional shipments moving in regional freight lanes.'
ABFS closed Tuesday's regular trading session at $31.44, up $0.45, on a volume of 602 thousand shares.
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