Echo posts Q1 loss despite record revenues

Freight broker and third-party provider Echo Global Logistics reported a net loss of $2.9 million in first quarter 2017, compared with a $0.3 million gain in the same 2016 period, even as revenues grew 3 percent year-over-year to $415.8 million.    Echo Global Logistics posted a net loss of $2.9 million in the first quarter of 2017, compared a $0.3 million profit in first quarter 2016, according to the company’s most recent financial statements.
   The Chicago-based freight broker and third-party logistics provider’s loss per diluted share (EPS) stood at $0.10 percent compared with a $0.01 EPS gain in the first quarter of 2016, even as revenues grew 3 percent year-over-year to $415.8 million, a first-quarter record for the company.
   Echo’s Truckload volumes ticked up 0.5 percent for the quarter, while less-than-truckload volumes rose 4.2 percent from first quarter 2016.
   “Our record first quarter revenue was led by strong growth in our Managed Transportation business. We signed another $56 million of new contracts during the quarter,” Echo Chairman and CEO Doug Waggoner said of the results. “Many of these wins are a strong reflection of the combined benefits of our integration with Command Transportation. We have now achieved more than $70 million of our revenue synergy goal through additional modes and offerings to the Command client base.”
   Echo completed the integration of truckload-oriented freight broker Command Transportation, LLC, which it acquired in June 2015 for $420 million, in October 2016.
   Looking ahead to the remainder of 2017, the company is projecting revenues for the second quarter of between $455 million and $485 million and full-year revenues of between $1.85 billion and $1.97 billion, according to Echo Chief Financial Officer Kyle Sauers.