Knight Transportation Inc., Phoenix, Ariz., announced revenues for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2003 -- before fuel surcharge -- increased 14% to $87.1 million from $76.4 million for the same quarter of 2002.

Net income increased 22% to $10 million from $8.2 million for the same period of 2002. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2003, net income per diluted share increased to $0.26 from $0.22 for the same quarter in 2002.
For the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2003, revenue increased 17% to $326.9 million from $279.4 million for the same period of 2002. For the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2003, net income increased 27.2% to $35.5 million from $27.9 million for the same period of 2002. For the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2003, net income per diluted share increased to $0.93 from $0.73 for the same period of 2002.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kevin P. Knight said, "We are pleased and encouraged by another quarter of record revenue, earnings and earnings per share. Freight demand remained solid through the end of the year, and we perceived little evidence of growth in industrywide tractor-trailer capacity. These factors, along with the hard work of our sales and operations groups, contributed to our seventh consecutive quarter of increase in revenue per mile.
"We were especially pleased to grow our tractor fleet internally by 13% versus the same quarter last year and also raise our revenue per tractor. We believe our strategy of opening new operations centers in targeted cities continues to pay off.
"Higher revenue per tractor and maintaining our culture of strict cost controls allowed us to achieve an operating ratio of 80.7% for the quarter. We improved our operating ratio by 60 basis points compared to the same quarter of last year despite higher fuel prices, a driver pay increase in September, and slightly lower miles per truck."