Frozen Food Express Industries reported improved results for the three months ended March 31, when compared to the first quarter of 2001.

The company reduced its first quarter net loss to $859,000, less than its 2001 first-quarter loss of $884,000. (Last year's results have been restated to reflect the impact of a change in the company's manner of accounting for a life insurance policy.)
First quarter total revenue dropped from $89.5 million in 2001 to $79.1 million in 2002. FFE says this was primarily due to the sale of W&B Refrigerated Service Company in December 2001. First quarter non-freight revenue fell from $11.2 million in 2001 to $1.6 million in 2002.
"When you've got the kind of economy we're operating in, with sluggish demand and rising fuel prices, I'll take any kind of improvement I can get, especially in the first quarter, which is almost always our weakest quarter," said Stoney Stubbs Jr., chairman and CEO.
Stubbs said the company's basic freight operations showed some revenue improvement. "We reported revenue from our trucking operations of $77.5 million for the first quarter of this year, compared to $78.3 million for the first quarter of last year. It looks like our trucking revenue declined this year from last, until you factor in the impact of our fuel surcharge."
He said first-quarter fuel surcharges contributed almost $3 million to 2001 revenue but just one-sixth of that amount in the first quarter of 2002.
"If you ignore the fuel surcharges, our freight revenue improved by about 2%," said Stubbs.
The company also reported efforts to establish a new credit facility are progressing.
"Our current facility expires on June 1, 2002. We are currently negotiating with lenders who have indicated their willingness and ability to provide us borrowing capacity with terms that we can operate under for the next three years," he explained.
Last month FFE restated its financial results for the past three years, due a change in an accounting method, approved earlier by them and auditors Arthur Anderson.