Earnings Watch: XPO Reports Loss of Nearly $63 Million

Despite greatly increased revenue in the final quarter of last year and for all of 2015, the fleet that purchased Con-way last year reported bigger losses.

XPO Logistics Inc. (NYSE: XPO) on Wednesday reported a fourth quarter 2015 net loss of $62.8 million, or 58 cents per diluted and basic shares, compared to a loss of $51.5 million, or 77 cents per diluted and basic shares a year earlier.

For the fourth quarter of 2015, total gross revenue increased 302.3% year-over-year to $3.3 billion for the Connecticut-based company.

The adjusted net loss was $23.1 million, or a loss of 21 cents per share, for the fourth quarter of 2015, excluding $100 million in certain one time costs and acquisitions, 15 cents more than a consensus estimate from Zacks Investment Research. This compares with an adjusted net loss of $6.5 million, or a loss of 10 cents per share, for the fourth quarter of 2014.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (adjusted EBITDA) improved to $217.6 million for the quarter, compared with $42 million for the same period in 2014.

"In the fourth quarter, we delivered organic adjusted EBITDA growth of 33%, and organic revenue growth of 8.4% excluding fuel. EBITDA growth in our transportation segment was led by our asset-light freight brokerage business, which continues to improve productivity through technology and the increasing tenure of our sales force,” said Bradley Jacobs, chairman and CEO. “For freight brokerage, last mile, expedite and global forwarding combined, we grew organic net revenue margin by 280 basis points to 21.7%. In our logistics segment, we realized higher-than-expected EBITDA and operating income, led by our European logistics business.”

In a news release he noted XPO completed its purchase of Con-way one month into the fourth quarter.

“The integration is going extremely well, and we've already taken out over $50 million of costs in annual savings in the first three months, while improving customer service levels," Jacobs said. "We're on track with our plan to deliver $170 million to $210 million of profit improvement within two years."

XPO’s transportation segment generated total gross revenue of $2.1 billion for the quarter, a 216.8% increase from the same period in 2014. The year-over-year increase in revenue was attributed primarily to the acquisitions of Norbert Dentressangle, Con-way, Bridge Terminal Transport, and UX Specialized Logistics, as well as revenue growth led by the last mile and freight brokerage businesses.

The company’s less-than-truckload operations, which comprise the biggest portion of its North American business, 41%, had $559.2 million in revenue in the final quarter of 2015. XPO did not offer a comparison for a year earlier. However, it did report a 3.6% decline in the pounds of freight moved during the quarter compared to same time in 2014. Shipments per day fell 4%.

The company's logistics segment generated gross revenue of $1.3 billion, compared with $166.5 million from the same period in 2014.

For the full year 2015, XPO reported total revenue of $7.6 billion, a 223.5% increase from 2014.

The adjusted net loss was $36.9 million, or a loss 40 cents per share for 2015, excluding certain items. This compares with an adjusted net loss of $33 million, or a loss of 62 cents per share for 2014.

For 2016, the company reaffirmed its full year target of at least $1.25 billion of adjusted EBITDA.

More details are on the XPO Logistics website.