Arkansas Best Corp. announced fourth-quarter 2005 net income of $30.2 million compared to fourth-quarter 2004 net income of $24.4 million. Arkansas Best says its revenue during the fourth quarter of 2005 was $496.4 million, a per-day increase of 11.0 percent over the fourth quarter of 2004.
For the full-year 2005, ABF Freight System reported an operating ratio of 90.9 percent, its second-best in the last 29 years, record operating income of $155.6 million and a per-day increase in revenue of 8.2 percent.
“Arkansas Best had an outstanding year in 2005 including a 20.7 percent after-tax return on capital employed, the highest level since Arkansas Best began using this financial measure in 1998,” says Robert A. Young III, chairman and chief executive officer of Fort Smith, Ark.-based Arkansas Best. “For the third consecutive yearend, Arkansas Best had no outstanding debt on its revolving credit facility. With cash and short-term investments of $127 million at the close of 2005, Arkansas Best remains in one of the strongest financial positions in the trucking industry.”
For the full year of 2005, Arkansas Best reported net income of $104.6 million, compared to net income of $75.5 million in 2004. Excluding an after-tax gain of $9.8 million related to the July 2005 sale of three non-ABF terminal facilities to G.I. Trucking, full-year 2005 revenue was $1.86 billion, a per-day increase of 8.9 percent over 2004 full-year revenue, the company reported.
