FFE reports improved third quarter, higher income

Frozen Food Express Industries, Dallas TX, reports improved financial results for the third quarter 2002, saying that surviving the downturn that has reduced trucking capacity has made it possible to raise freight rates. The company says it sees increased demand for its truckload service and is beginning to see improvement in its perishable LTL operations. Demand for LTL service began to fall in 1999, the company says.

Total revenue for the third quarter 2002 was 5.4% lower than revenue for the same period in 2001; however, figures for 2001 include revenue from the company’s refrigeration unit and trailer dealership, which was sold in December 2001. A comparison of freight revenue for the third quarter 2002 to freight revenue for the third quarter 2001 shows an increase of 5.2%. Operating income on freight revenue improved to $1.04 million, an increase of 180%. Net income from the third quarter 2002 was $3.38 million or 20 cents a share, up from $277,000 or two cents per share for the same period of 2001.

The company still has one major non-freight business. Combined results of this business and freight operations shows a third quarter 2002 loss of $43,000 compared to an operating profit of $818,000 for the same period 2001. For the first nine months of 2002, freight revenue improved by $3.3 million to $250.2 million. However, year-to-date 2002 non-freight revenue fell by almost $30 million to only $10.3 million compared to 2001. Income from operations for the first nine months of 2002 was $110,000 compared to $843,000 for the first nine months of 2001.