The former CEO of ABF Freight System Inc., the less-than-truckload (LTL) unit of ArcBest Corp., has been retained for three years as a consultant to the company, ArcBest said in a filing last Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Roy L. Slagle, 60, will be paid $27,000 a month for unspecified consulting services, Fort Smith, Ark.-based ArcBest said in the filing. The deal was struck on Oct. 24, nine days after Slagle retired from the company. Slagle agreed to a noncompete clause that runs through the length of the agreement and for one additional year after it ends, according to the filing.
Kathy Fieweger, an ArcBest spokeswoman, declined to comment on what services Slagle will perform as a consultant.
ArcBest had announced Slagle's retirement in an Oct. 16 statement, the day after his retirement took effect. Slagle became president and CEO in early 2012. He had been with ABF for 37 years. Slagle was replaced by Tim Thorne, who had been vice president of linehaul operations.
Meanwhile, ArcBest today reported solid third quarter results, paced by an 11-percent year-over-year revenue gain from ABF, its largest unit, and a 26-percent revenue gain at Panther Premium Logistics, its nonasset-based provider. Operating income at Panther rose 33 percent year-over-year.
At ABF, revenue per hundredweight—a key metric of pricing strength—rose 3 percent over last year, indicating that the carrier, which has implemented two tariff rate increases this year, is making most of those increases stick. Most of the growth at ABF came from additional business from existing customers, ArcBest said. The carrier incurred higher costs in the quarter, due in part to the use of inexperienced and relatively unproductive dockworkers and the increase in labor man-hours needed to meet increased freight demand, it said.
In late-afternoon trading on the NSADAQ, ArcBest stock was trading at $39.42 a share, up $1.42 on the session. The stock has risen fourfold from its 52 week low of $9.73 a share.
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