Pacer International sees dip in 3rd-quarter earnings

Pacer International sees dip in 3rd-quarter earnings    Pacer international, the non-asset-based third-party logistics and freight transportation provider, said third-quarter net income dipped to $4.9 million, from $8.2 million for the year-earlier period.
   The third-quarter results included $11.0 million pre-tax costs related to the company's senior subordinated note redemption and secondary offering of common stock in the quarter. Excluding these costs, adjusted net income increased 40.2 percent to $11.5 million, Pacer said.
   Net revenues for Pacer's wholesale segment, Pacer Stacktrain, which provides double-stack rail transportation, increased 4.9 percent to $55.4 million.
   'Pacer's wholesale segment continues to grow, driven by strong domestic and automotive volumes,' said Don Orris, chairman and chief executive officer of Concord, Calif.-based Pacer International. 'Our automotive volumes were up 29.7 percent and our domestic intermodal volumes were up 7.5 percent, quarter over quarter.'
   The retail segment, which provides intermodal marketing, truck brokerage and services, international freight forwarding, supply chain management and warehousing and distribution services, saw net revenue increase 0.6 percent to $35.1 million. Pacer said the results benefited from strength in warehousing and distribution and addition of new operations in local trucking and distribution.
   For the nine month period ended Sept. 19, net revenues increased 7.7 percent to $274.9 million. Operating income increased 6.5 percent to $57.5 million while net income was $19.9 million, up 17.1 percent.
   Pacer International, as previously announced, completed refinancing of its indebtedness June 13 and redeemed $150 million senior subordinated notes July 10. The company recorded a pr't-tax charge of $10.7 million as a result of the redemption. The company's secondary public offering of 7.29 million shares of common stock was completed Aug. 4. The stock was sold at $20 per share. The company accrued $300,000 in costs associated with the offering, in addition to $900,000 in the second quarter of 2003. Pacer did not receive any proceeds from the offering.