Knight-Swift posts first quarterly post-merger results

Now North America’s largest provider of truckload services, Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings recorded a net income of $4.2 million on revenues of $521.6 million for the quarter, according to the newly merged firm’s most recent financial statements.    Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. the new parent company formed from the merger of Phoenix-based trucking giants Knight Transportation and Swift Transportation, recorded a net income of $4.2 million for the third quarter of 2017, down from $24.1 million for the third quarter of 2016, according to the company’s 10-Q financial report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
   Diluted earnings per share, which totaled $0.04 for the quarter, included $12.3 million ($8.9 million after-tax) of legal and professional fees associated with the merger, $6.6 million ($5.0 million after-tax) of other one-time operating expenses related to the merger, $16.7 million ($10.3 million after-tax) of impairment of software assets identified after the merger, and $2.5 million ($1.5 million after tax) of amortization expense related to the $817.2 million of amortizable intangible assets recorded due to the merger, Knight-Swift President and CEO Dave Jackson explained.
   Meanwhile, revenues for the quarter totaled $521.6 million, up from $280.5 million for Knight during the third quarter of 2016.
   The two companies had announced their merger plans back in April, and the deal was finalized Sept. 8.
   Commenting on the merger, Knight-Swift Executive Chairman Kevin Knight said back in September that the merged entity has over 70 terminals and that it would help add an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 new drivers to the industry in the next year.
   “Knight-Swift is the largest provider of truckload services in North America, with an asset-based fleet of approximately 23,000 tractors and 77,000 trailers, and access to substantial additional capacity through our brokerage and intermodal capabilities,” he said.