Echo’s revenues, profits rise steadily in Q2

The freight broker and transportation services provider’s acquisition of rival brokerage Command Transportation during the quarter bolstered its financials, with the company now targeting $3 billion in revenues by 2018.    The freight brokerage and transportation management solutions provider Echo Global Logistics on Wednesday said it had operating profits of $16.8 million in the second quarter, a 30.5 percent year-over-year increase.
   Revenues in the quarter grew 21.5 percent, to $371.6 million, thanks to a 30.2 percent increase in transactional revenue.
   Echo made a major acquisition in the second quarter, when it purchased freight broker Command Transportation for $420 million. The company updated its projected revenues for 2015 to $1.6 billion, with a target of $3 billion in revenue by 2018.
   “Echo continued to deliver strong results in a quarter where we closed the transformational acquisition of Command Transportation, drove strong organic growth in a softer market, and expanded our net revenue margins while significantly increasing our truckload business,” said Doug Waggoner, chairman and CEO of Echo. “Even more powerful is our prospect for future growth, as we have successfully kicked off our integration with Command, which will dramatically improve our truckload brokerage capabilities through a substantial increase in capacity and network density.”
   Waggoner added that the company’s previous acquisitions – 19 in all prior to Command – give him confidence the integration with the rival broker will yield opportunities.
   Echo said its truckload volume increased by 42 percent year-over-year in the second quarter. Around 61 percent of the company’s revenue came from its truckload business, with 32 percent coming from less-than-truckload.