Roadrunner rebounds from tough 2014

Truckload and LTL provider saw improvement in both segments during the first quarter, including higher LTL operating income, despite lower revenues.    The non-asset-based truckload and less-than-truckload provider Roadrunner Transportation Systems this week said first quarter operating profit rose 39.3 percent year-over-year to $26.8 million on revenues that rose 28 percent to $489 million.
   Net income increased 30.6 percent to $13.6 million.
   Mark DiBlasi, Roadrunner president and chief executive officer, said the company’s LTL segment had rebounded after a difficult 2014 “due to the extensive operational and pricing initiatives implemented in the fourth quarter of 2014 and into the first quarter of 2015.”
   He noted that LTL operating income rose 28.4 percent despite revenue decreasing 3.4 percent, marking improved performance in that segment.
   On the truckload side, DiBlasi said that “despite the negative impact of weather and the West Coast port congestion that affected many of our TL business units, operating income increased 32.9 percent from $12.0 million in the first quarter of 2014 to $15.9 million in the first quarter of 2015.”
   The Stifel Transportation & Logistics Research Group said in an investor note Thursday that Roadrunner would be better served “to continue to focus on its core operations rather than acquisitions.”
   “We don’t expect any significant acquisitions this year (although the company made it clear it will likely be buying another company or two in the next couple of quarters) until its (debt-to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization ratio) is reduced via better operating performance or another equity offering (which we view as unlikely at current levels),” Stifel said.
   In other news, Roadrunner said it has hired William Goodgion as president of the company’s transportation management solutions segment. Goodgion will be responsible for overseeing the entire TMS segment, which comprises of Roadrunner companies Group Transportation Services, Marisol International, and Unitrans International.
   Goodgion joins Roadrunner from FedEx Trade Networks Transport & Brokerage, Inc., where he was most recently managing director of operations for the company’s central region.