Frozen Food Express tallies Q3 2011 results
Frozen Food Express Industries Inc has reported its financial and operating results for the quarter ended September 30, 2011.
For the three months ended September 30, 2011, total operating revenue increased $8.9 million to $102.8 million compared with $93.9 million in the same period of 2010. Total operating revenue, net of fuel surcharges, rose to $81.5 million, versus $79.5 million in the same period of 2010. The net loss for the three months ended September 30, 2011 was $13.7 million, in contrast to $2.3 million for the same period of 2010.
Total operating revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2011, advanced 7.9%, or $21.6 million, to $296.3 million compared with $274.7 million in the same period of 2010. Total operating revenue, excluding fuel surcharges, climbed 0.3% to $233.6 million from $232.8 million in the same period of 2010. Net loss for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 was $24.9 million, versus a net loss of $10.4 million in the same period of 2010.
Russell Stubbs, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said, “While truckload pricing increased 4.5% during the third quarter, our planned reduction of dry freight services and a continued shortage of drivers resulted in fewer weekly average trucks in service and a 5.5% decline in truckload revenue. Both pricing and demand for our less-than-truckload services continued to improve during the third quarter. As a result, our LTL revenue increased 4.5% during the quarter, which marks the fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year improvement.”
In the third quarter of 2011, total operating expenses increased $15.6 million, or 15.5% to $116.3 million compared with $100.7 million in the same period of 2010. The company was able to offset the impact of increased fuel prices through a reduction in overall miles driven, combined with fuel efficiency programs and fuel surcharges.
“As previously announced, we have taken steps to streamline our operations by limiting our dry-freight services to refrigerated equipment in limited lanes, and place greater management focus on continued improvement in our refrigerated truckload and LTL services,” said Stubbs. “Focus in these areas—and growth in our logistics offerings—will be a key to restoring our company to meaningful profitability. At the same time, we expect our streamlining efforts to significantly reduce the average age of our fleet, which should directly address increasing maintenance costs, as well as improve fuel efficiency.”