Swift Transportation, the nation’s largest publicly held truckload carrier, reported it had more business in the first six months of this year, compared to the same time a year ago, but profits were down.

Meanwhile, the truckload and logistics provider, Transport Corporation of America, managed to post a profit in the second quarter but showed a loss for the first six months of the year.

Phoenix-based Swift's results include its recent acquisition of M.S. Carriers, using the pooling of interests method.
Revenues for the second quarter of 2001 increased 7% to $535.6 million, compared with $500.3 million for the corresponding quarter of 2000. Revenues were affected by the transfer of Swift's logistics business to Transplace.com, an Internet-based logistics company commonly owned with five other truckload carriers. Excluding approximately $22 million of second quarter 2000 revenues that were derived from logistics operations, the increase in revenues would have been 12%. Net earnings were $10.5 million or 12 cents per share, compared to $22.7 million or 27 cents per share for the second quarter of 2000.
The second quarter 2001 results include a $7 million pretax adjustment of the MS Carriers insurance and claims reserves and $2 million in merger expenses.
The company's earnings per share prior to the insurance and claims adjustment and merger expenses would have been 19 cents per share for the second quarter of 2001.
For the first six months of the year, the company's revenues increased 9% to $1.045 billion from $958.9 million in 2000. The revenue increase would have been 14.1% when adjusted for the approximately $43 million of logistics revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2000.
Net earnings were $12.7 million or 15 cents per share, compared to $38 million or 45 cents per share in 2000. The company's earnings per share prior to the insurance and claims adjustment and merger expenses would have been 22 cents per share for the six months ended June 30, 2001.
The results exceeded Swift's previously announced expectations for the quarter, due in part to the moderating of fuel costs for the month of June compared to May.

Minneapolis-based Transport Corporation of America announced revenues for the second quarter 2001 of $69.4 million, compared with 2000 second quarter revenues of $73.4 million. Second quarter net income was $376,000 or $0.05 per diluted share, compared with 2000 second quarter net income of $1.3 million, or $0.12 per diluted share.
"Weak economic conditions continue to negatively impact our results, with our
manufacturing, industrial and retail customers experiencing the full effect of
the economic slowdown," said Robert J. Meyers, President and CEO. "However, we continue to execute on our strategy of adding new customers that contribute to profitability and managing our expenses carefully. We have improved both our revenue and profitability performance over first quarter results and expect this trend to continue into the third quarter."
For the first six months of the year, the company reported revenues of $135.5 million compared with $145.6 million for the same period last year. Net loss for the six-month period was $376,000, or $0.05 per diluted share, compared with net income of $2.2 million, or $0.22 per diluted share, in 2000.
Looking ahead, Meyers commented, "We have added significant new business in the second quarter and expect to continue this trend into the future. As demand for truckload decreased, we resisted the temptation to reduce long-term pricing to affect short-term sales. The industry has seen a number of weaker carriers reduce prices significantly to generate cash flow. We are also using this opportunity to expand our customer base and geographic diversity."