Yellow Roadway remains confident that its USF Corp. acquisition will be profitable for both companies’ shareholders, despite USF’s belief that its first-quarter earnings will be significantly lower than last year’s.
“Given their first quarter revenue growth and tonnage increase, we believe the business fundamentals remain sound,” said Bill Zollars, Yellow Roadway chairman, president and CEO. “Once we have the opportunity to leverage the combined expertise of Yellow Roadway and USF, and pursue synergy opportunities of $150 million, we are confident that additional value will be created.”
USF announced April 7 that it expected earnings shares for Q1 2005 to be between 12 cents and 16 cents per share, half the 32 cents per share earned in Q1 2004 and much less than the 38 cents per share Wall Street expected.
USF cited a slowdown in the Midwest automotive sector, slower than anticipated growth in the Northeast and high competition in the Southeast.
USF’s Q1 2005 results will be announced April 22.
