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YRC loses nearly $900 million in 2009

Despite full-year losses, LTL giant reports sequential improvement in latter half of the year.

Mark Solomon
By Mark SolomonFeb 05, 2010
Mark Solomon
Mark Solomon joined DC VELOCITY as senior editor in August 2008, and was promoted to his current position on January 1, 2015. He has spent more than 30 years in the transportation, logistics and supply chain management fields as a journalist and public relations professional. From 1989 to 1994, he worked in Washington as a reporter for the Journal of Commerce, covering the aviation and trucking industries, the Department of Transportation, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that, he worked for Traffic World for seven years in a similar role. From 1994 to 2008, Mr. Solomon ran Media-Based Solutions, a public relations firm based in Atlanta. He graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in journalism from The American University in Washington, D.C.
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YRC Worldwide Inc., the nation's largest less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier by sales, said Friday that it suffered a 2009 pre-tax loss of $899 million, compared to a 2008 pre-tax loss of $1.147 billion, which included so-called impairment charges of $1.02 billion.

For the fourth quarter of last year, YRC posted pre-tax income of $50 million, which included what the company called a "net gain" on certain financial transactions. In the 2008 fourth quarter, YRC posted a pre-tax loss of $353 million, which included $200 million of "impairment charges.

The company did not disclose after-tax results, saying it needs more time to complete a valuation analysis due to accounting complexities stemming from the debt-for-equity swap it engineered at the end of 2009.

YRC posted a $95 million operating loss in the fourth quarter, an improvement over the $118 million loss in the prior quarter and the $335 million loss it posted in the fourth quarter of 2008. The 2008 results included $200 million in "impairment charges."

YRC continued to see significant declines in fourth-quarter shipment volumes due to shipper uncertainty over the company's financial stability and decisions by the carrier to shed unprofitable business. YRC National, the company's national LTL unit, reported a 39-percent year-over-year decline in total daily shipments. Its regional unit reported a nearly 20 percent decline in total daily shipments.

In a statement, Tim Wicks, YRC's president and COO, said the company's improved performance is "now becoming apparent in our operating results, and we expect favorable year-over-year comparisons will accelerate during 2010."

ArticleTruckingTransportation
yrc worldwidemarch 2010
ArticleTruckingTransportation
yrc worldwidemarch 2010

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