Covenant Transport Inc. said fourth quarter revenue increased 8.7 percent, to $178.4 million from $164.2 million in the same quarter of 2004.

Freight revenue, which excludes fuel surcharges, increased 0.8 percent, to $148.4 million in the 2005 quarter from $147.2 million in the 2004 quarter.
Net income increased to $4.4 million from a net loss of $6.5 million in the 2004 quarter. Net income per diluted share increased to $0.32 from a loss of $0.44 in the 2004 quarter. The 2004 fourth quarter included a $12.2 million after-tax, or $0.82 per share, increase to insurance claims reserves.
For the year, total revenue increased 6.5 percent, to $643.1 million from $603.6 million during 2004. Freight revenue decreased 0.5 percent, to $555.4 million in 2005 from $558.5 million in 2004. The company generated net income of $5.7 million, or $0.40 per diluted share, for the year compared with $3.4 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, for 2004.
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer David R. Parker, said, "Although we still have a lot of work to do, I am very pleased with the progress that we made during the second half of 2005 to stabilize our freight base and improve our revenue per tractor both sequentially and versus a very strong fourth quarter of 2004. Average freight revenue per tractor per week (excluding fuel surcharge revenue) increased to $3,254 in the fourth quarter of 2005, an increase of 1.4 percent over the 2004 period and 6.1 percent sequentially over the third quarter of 2005. A key factor in the improvement was a 3.2 percent increase in average freight revenue per loaded mile, to $1.548 in the fourth quarter of 2005, compared with $1.500 in the fourth quarter of 2004. The increase in rates more than offset a 1.7 percent decrease in average miles per tractor mainly attributable to a smaller percentage of teams during the fourth quarter of 2005 versus the fourth quarter of 2004.”