One of the largest owners of flatbed and specialized trucking services providers moved from a profit to a loss in the second quarter of the year while reporting its second straight quarterly loss since becoming a publicly traded company early in 2017.

Daseke Inc. reported a net loss of $4.1 million in the April through June period compared to net income of $1 million a year earlier and a net loss of $7.7 million in the first quarter of 2017.

Revenue in the most recent quarter improved 15% from a year ago to $197.3 million while it was 23% higher that it was in the first quarter of this year.

Even with these latest results, the company said it remains on track to achieve its financial goals.

“As expected, we saw sequential improvement in our second quarter 2017 results versus the first quarter of 2017, with improvements in revenue, net loss and adjusted EBITDA, which we believe presents an accurate snapshot of our performance trend and growth,” said Don Daseke, chairman, president and CEO.

He said the company anticipates freight rates will continue to improve throughout 2017, with much of the recovery expected to occur in the third and fourth quarters.

“Based on the macro trends we are seeing, and the improvement in the overall flatbed and specialized transportation market, we are reiterating our 2017 pro forma Adjusted EBITDA target of $140 million, after giving effect to acquisitions made during 2017,” Mr. Daseke said.

During the second quarter of 2017, Daseke completed the acquisition of two companies effective the first of May while in early July it announced the acquisition of The Steelman Companies, bringing the number of consolidated companies under its banner to 12 with over 3,600 trucks and over 7,500 flatbed and specialized trailers. 

Based on the 2016 financial results, the combined 2016 estimated revenue, net income, and Adjusted EBITDA of the three acquired companies totals $165 million, $3.1 million and $20 million, respectively, according to Daseke. Approximately 52% of the combined revenue of the three acquired companies is estimated to be asset-light or logistics-related.

Second quarter 2017 revenue for Daseke’s flatbed segment improved 5.8% to $86.9 million. Operating income for the second quarter of 2017 was $6.3 million, an 18% increase from for the same period last year. Total miles for flatbed segment during the 2017 second quarter were 38.2 million compared with 39.1 million miles a year earlier.

Daseke’s specialized segment posted revenue of $112 million for the 2017 second quarter, an increase of 25%. Second quarter operating income for the segment was $4.6 million compared with $5.1 million for the 2016 second quarter. Total miles for the specialized segment were 31.4 million for the second quarter of 2017, an increase of 23.5% over the second quarter total.

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