J. B. Hunt Reports Revenues and Earnings for Q3 of 2000
16 October 2000
J. B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. Reports Revenues and Earnings for the Third Quarter of 2000
LOWELL, Ark.--Oct. 16, 2000--J. B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc., announced third quarter 2000 net earnings of $9.1 million, or earnings per diluted share of 26 cents, compared with 1999 third quarter net earnings of $5.0 million, or 14 cents per diluted share. J.B. Hunt Logistics contributed approximately 6 cents per share to earnings in the third quarter of 1999 while its successor, Transplace.com, contributed less than one cent to third quarter 2000 earnings realized under the equity method of accounting.Total revenue for the third quarter of 2000 was $509.4 million, compared with $523.9 million during the third quarter of 1999. The lower revenue reflects the previously announced contribution of all the Company's non-asset based logistics business to a jointly owned logistics company, Transplace.com. Adjusted for this logistics business, which was contributed effective July 1, 2000, the Company's revenue growth for the third quarter of 2000 was approximately 21%. Transplace.com is jointly owned by six of the largest publicly-held truckload transportation companies and its Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Jun-Sheng Li. While the Company will share approximately 27% of Transplace.com's net results of operations, all logistics revenue will be excluded from the Company's financial statements subsequent to June 30, 2000.
During the third quarter of 2000, revenues of the Company's Truck segment grew 9%, while Intermodal segment revenue rose 7% over the comparable period of 1999. Dedicated segment revenue surged 55% during the third quarter of 2000. The Company's Truck segment fleet grew by 127 units during the third quarter of 2000 and ended the quarter at 5,770 trucks. Dedicated Contract Services added 185 trucks during the quarter and finished at 3,793 units.
While soaring fuel costs created a challenging environment during the third quarter, the Company was able to recover the majority of this increased expense relative to the third quarter of 1999 through fuel surcharges. The improvement in earnings follows the growth in Dedicated Contract Services at higher margins. Earnings before taxes increased 22% (105% excluding earnings from J.B. Hunt Logistics/Transplace.com). Further improvement to net earnings resulted from a lower consolidated effective income tax rate. Sequentially, earnings per share, less the impact from the transfer of J.B. Hunt Logistics to Transplace.com, increased 32% from the second quarter of 2000 to the third quarter of 2000. The Truck business unit showed a 41% improvement in operating income relative to the second quarter.
Operating revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2000 increased 9%, to $1.626 billion from $1.492 billion in 1999. This increase in revenue was 15%, adjusted for the contributed logistics business. For the current nine months, Truck segment revenue was up 9%, Intermodal revenue grew 3%, and Dedicated revenue was up 50%. Net earnings for the nine months ended September 30, 2000 were $25.2 million, or 71 cents per diluted share, compared with $26.3 million, or 74 cents per diluted share in 1999.
J. B. HUNT TRANSPORT SERVICES, INC.
Comparative Condensed Statement of Earnings
(In thousands, except per share data)
(Unaudited)
Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended
September 30 September 30
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2000 1999 2000 1999
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Operating revenues $509,422 $523,901 $1,626,478 $1,491,699
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Operating income $ 15,817 $ 14,776 $ 45,717 $ 60,443
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Net earnings $ 9,123 $ 4,958 $ 25,190 $ 26,328
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Average number of common
shares outstanding 35,161 35,635 35,359 35,625
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Diluted shares outstanding 35,280 35,692 35,478 35,957
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Basic earnings per share $ 0.26 $ 0.14 $ 0.71 $ 0.74
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Diluted earnings per share $ 0.26 $ 0.14 $ 0.71 $ 0.73
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