Landair executives propose buyout
Landair chairman & CEO Scott Niswonger, who owns 58% of its stock, and president & COO John Tweed, who owns 13%, want to purchase the rest of Greenville, TN-based Landair's stock for $13 a share, which represents a 25% premium over the carrier's current stock value.
Niswonger and Tweed both indicated that their offer is contingent upon their ability to arrange the necessary financing for the transaction.
Though the two executives have not commented publicly as to why they want to gain total ownership of Landair, the carrier's healthy financial returns this year in the face of an economic slowdown may be a major reason.
Landair, which specializes in dedicated contract carriage and ground service for the air cargo market, posted a 20% jump in net income to $1.6 million in the second quarter versus same period last year, despite a $697,000 decline in operating revenue to $26.4 million.
For the first six months of 2002, Landair said its net income rose 16% to $2.7 million, compared to $2.3 million in the same period last year. The improvement in net income also came despite lower revenue, which decreased by $4.1 million to $52 million in the first six months of 2002, compared with $56.1 million for the same period in 2001.
