USA Truck Inc. on Thursday, July 19, announced base revenue of $103.5 million for the quarter ended June 30, a decrease of 4.6 percent from $108.5 million for the same quarter of 2011. The company incurred a net loss of $3.5 million compared to net income of $0.6 million.
Base revenue decreased 3.3 percent to $201.3 million for the six months ended June 30 from $208.1 million for the same period of 2011. The company incurred a net loss of $8.4 million compared to a net loss of $2.1 million.
“USA Truck’s net loss for the second quarter of 2012 narrowed compared to the past three sequential quarters,”said Cliff Beckham, president and chief executive officer of the Van Buren, Ark.-based company. “Bright spots included continued strong performance in our SCS segment, improved base revenue per manned tractor and lower fuel expense. Unfortunately, progress in these areas was hampered by lackluster performance in our Trucking segment where unmanned tractors and lack of network efficiency continued to diminish asset productivity.”
Beckham cited three factors that negatively impacted USA Truck’s tractor utilization during the quarter: a less robust U.S. economy, particularly in manufacturing, that depressed volumes; disappointing operational execution; and an unmanned tractor count that averaged 12.2 percent for the quarter “driven by a challenging environment for hiring drivers and an inefficient network making it hard to retain them,” he said.
“To assist us in improving our operational execution, we have hired experienced key personnel and engaged industry consultants to analyze our processes and recommend improvements,” Beckham said. “Their main focus is to increase our percentage of tractors available for dispatch each day, to improve our freight planning efficiency and to improve our freight mix.”
