Earnings Watch: YRC Worldwide 1st Quarter Loss Doubles
Financial losses for YRC Worldwide Inc., parent to both national and regional less-than-truckload carriers, more than doubled in the first quarter of the year despite a small upturn in revenue.

Financial losses for YRC Worldwide Inc., parent to both national and regional less-than-truckload carriers, more than doubled in the first quarter of the year despite a small upturn in revenue.
YRC reported a net loss of $25.3 million in the most recent quarter, or 78 cents per share, worse than analysts expectations. This compares to a net loss a year ago of $12 million, or 37 cents per share. Revenue in the most recent quarter was $1.17 billion versus $1.12 billion a year earlier.
According to CEO James Welch, while the company’s regional carriers’ performance was in line with results from a year ago, including an increase in tonnage per day, its national LTL fleet ran into problems.
“YRC Freight’s results in the first quarter were unfavorably impacted by a year-over-year decrease in revenue per hundredweight, excluding fuel surcharge, that more than offset increases in tonnage per day and weight per shipment,” he said. “We expect the improvement in year-over-year tonnage per day to help us execute our strategy of pricing for profitability and moving shipments through YRC Freight, Holland, Reddaway and New Penn’s networks that have favorable freight characteristics.”
Despite the challenges, Welch said YRC believes the pricing environment remains stable in the less-than-truckload sector and the company’s goal for 2017 is to beat its 2016 EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) numbers.
To help meet this goal, YRC implemented a plan during the first quarter of 2017 to eliminate approximately $25 million of costs over the next year. The savings include downsizing the management and other non-union workforce by approximately 180 positions.
“Headcount reduction is the most significant source of savings while other changes included increasing collaboration across our companies and reducing the utilization of external professional services,” said Welch.
During the first quarter, YRC Freight recording an operating loss of $10.5 million compared to an operating profit of $4.1 million a year ago, despite a 4.8% increase in revenue totaling $728.9 million.
Its regional operations reported operating income of $12.2 million, down 2.4% from the first quarter of 2016 as revenue increased 4% to $441.8 million.
First quarter 2017 tonnage per day increased 3.4% at YRC Freight and 2.1% at the regional segment compared to first quarter 2016.
More Fleet Management

Kodiak Lines Up Fleets for Driverless Trucking
An agreement for 75 trucks, a new Texas freight lane, and progress on safety validation move Kodiak closer to its planned driverless highway launch.
Read More →
ITS Logistics Settles Religious Harassment Case
The Nevada-based logistics firm agreed to pay more than $396,000 to settle a religious harassment charge involving an employee's Jewish identity.
Read More →
Your Trucks Are Busy. That Doesn’t Mean They’re Winning.
High utilization doesn’t always mean strong margins. Looking beyond the current load can help fleets make better dispatch decisions and get more value from each truck’s time.
Read More →
Why This Trucking Recovery Is Different
Freight demand remains sluggish, but rising costs and tougher enforcement have taken enough capacity out of the market to change the outlook for motor carriers.
Read More →
Platform Science Adds Dispatch and Safety Tools
Four additions to PS Fleet help fleets monitor loads, manage driver coaching, share truck locations and adjust video system settings.
Read More →
PrePass Intelligence Mines Fleet Bypass, Toll and Safety Data
PrePass Intelligence helps fleets measure bypass savings, flag potential toll overcharges, and spot suspicious transactions by combining data from separate systems.
Read More →
Motive Adds AI Agents for Fleet Operations
New tools automate follow-up on fleet data, from maintenance work orders to driver alerts, with two-way voice conversations planned for later this year.
Read More →Can You Beat Our Trucking Trivia Challenge?
Test your truck knowledge with 19 trivia questions from Heavy Duty Trucking Exchange. Can you keep up with the fleet pros?
Read More →
BeyondTrucks Adds Rules Checks to Dispatch
New Compatibility Engine checks driver qualifications, equipment requirements and fleet policies before loads are dispatched.
Read More →
Diesel Prices Hijack Trucking’s Worry List
ATRI’s annual survey finds cautious optimism about freight, but diesel costs, litigation, and insurance continue to squeeze fleets. Drivers have different priorities on several issues.
Read More →
