But Campbell Says
Trucking Company
Had Encouraging
Finish In Late 2009
Greeneville-based Forward Air Corporation this week reported operating revenue for the quarter that ended on Dec. 31, 2009 decreased 4.4 percent to $118.0 million from $123.4 million for the same quarter in 2008.
The trucking company said its quarterly income from operations was $12.3 million, compared with $14.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2008, a decrease of 12.1 percent.
For all of 2009, Forward Air said its operating revenue decreased by 12.0 percent to $417.4 million from $474.4 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2008.
Its annual income from operations was $18.8 million, compared with $70.3 million in 2008, the company reported.
CAMPBELL PLEASED
Bruce A. Campbell, Forward Air's chairman, president and CEO, said, "We are pleased with our fourth-quarter results, which provided an encouraging finish to a year of unprecedented challenges.
"This quarter's performance validated the positive leverage and earnings power of our model as illustrated by our airport-to-airport segment generating $5.6 million of additional operating income on $14.9 million in additional operating revenue when compared to the third quarter of 2009."
Campbell added, "Although we were encouraged by the trends that started at the end of the third quarter and which continued throughout the fourth quarter, we remain very cautious, yet optimistic, in our outlook for 2010.
"Our yield, while stabilized, continues to suffer from competitive pricing which we expect to continue until such time as capacity is taken out of the market or demand increases from an improved economy," Forward Air's president added.
