USFreightways Corp. reported income of $13.6 million from continuing operations for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2002, a 27% increase compared to $10.7 million reported for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2001.

Diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter 2002 were 50 cents per share compared to 40 cents per share for the fourth quarter of 2001. Revenue from continuing operations in the fourth quarter was $580.7 million, an 8% increase over the $537.2 million reported for the fourth quarter of 2001.
After taking the one-time charges related to the discontinued operations the company reported a net loss to shareholders of $0.5 million in the quarter, compared to net income of $8.8 million in last year's fourth quarter. For the total year, the company recorded revenue from continuing operations of $2.25 billion, a 1.3% increase over the $2.22 billion for 2001. Income from continuing operations was $33.3 million for 2002, or $1.22 diluted earnings per share, compared to last year's income of $50.0 million equivalent to $1.87 diluted earnings per share.
Included in this year's results is a $12.8 million loss, net of tax, from relinquishing our interest in our Asian freight forwarding business, equivalent to 46 cents diluted earnings per share. Excluding this loss, the company's core businesses had earnings in 2002 of $46.0 million, equivalent to $1.68 diluted earnings per share.
Samuel K. Skinner, chairman, president and chief executive officer of USFreightways, commented, "2002 was the third straight challenging year for the company and for the economy in general. The sale of our freight forwarding business is now behind us so we can fully focus our management team on further improving performance in our core businesses of trucking and logistics."
Operating earnings for the less-than-truckload (LTL) group were $29.2 million in the quarter, an increase of 16.5% compared to $25.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2001. The LTL group's operating ratio in the fourth quarter was 93.9, compared to 94.2 in the fourth quarter of last year and slightly higher than the 93.7 for this year's third quarter. Skinner said, "The results of the fourth quarter for our LTL operations are somewhat encouraging. Additional business acquired after the closure of Consolidated Freightways (CF) in early September continued to support the increase in existing business levels.
"We are beginning the new year with a strong financial position, having over $50 million in cash and a debt to capital ratio of 29.0%. The momentum we saw in the fourth quarter of 2002 has subsided somewhat in the first three weeks of 2003. The uncertainties of the economy and the world political situation continue to have an effect on our industry."