USFREIGHTWAYS CHARGES LEAD TO 1ST-QUARTER LOSS

USFREIGHTWAYS CHARGES LEAD TO 1ST-QUARTER LOSS USFreightways Corp. reported a first-quarter loss of $77.7 million, after the multimodal transportation and logistics provider took nearly $82.8 million in one-time charges.
   Earnings for the quarter were $5.1 million before the charges, which included $12.8 million for the company relinquishing interest in an Asian joint venture, and $70 million related to goodwill impairment at USF Worldwide. Net income for the first quarter of 2001 was $8.4 million.
   Income for the most recent quarter also 'was negatively impacted mainly in the less-than-truckload regional trucking subsidiaries, due to continued sluggishness of the economy and resultant lower volumes and losses in the company's freight forwarding segment, though the current loss was sharply reduced from last year's first quarter,' USFreightways said.
   'LTL shipments were down 33.0 percent and LTL tonnage was off 4.2 percent.
   In the regional trucking group, revenue was $430.2 million, down 6.3 percent Operating earnings were $16.9 million, down 30 percent
   Operating earnings for the logistics group decreased 18 percent to $2.3 million, while revenue was off 6 percent to $66.6 million. The decrease was confined to USF Processors, where a single customer generated unusually high volumes in the year-earlier quarter.
   The freight-forwarding segment saw an operating loss of $1.2 million, compared to a $3.3-million loss in the year-earlier period.
   USFreightways said it 'remains cautious in its outlook for the remainder of the year. At the current rate of recovery in the economy, we see volumes in the second quarter showing incremental improvements over the first quarter similar to prior years, but probably remaining slightly lower than 2001.' If trends continue, the company anticipates second-quarter earnings of 35 to 45 cents per diluted share.