USA Truck Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

USA Truck, Inc. (NASDAQ:USAK), a leading capacity solutions provider, today announced its financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2017.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2017, consolidated operating revenue was $101.7 million compared to $110.6 million for the prior-year period. Base revenue, which excludes fuel surcharge, was $89.8 million compared to $102.0 million for the 2016 period. The Company reported a net loss of ($4.9) million, or ($0.61) per diluted share for the first quarter 2017, compared to a ($1.8) million, or ($0.19) per diluted share, for the same quarter in 2016, on a 1.4 million (14.8%) decrease in average diluted shares outstanding. The Company’s first quarter 2017 operating ratio was 106.3%, compared to 102.1% in the 2016 quarter.

Included in loss per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31, 2017 was approximately $0.8 million, or $0.06 per share, net-of-tax, of severance costs recorded in salaries, wages and employee benefits. The quarter also includes a $4.5 million, or $0.35 per share net-of-tax, charge for adverse development on auto and workers’ compensation claims. Included in loss per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 was $5.3 million, or $0.34 per share, net-of-tax, relating to restructuring, impairment and other costs.

President and CEO James Reed commented, “Having now completed three months in the role as USA Truck’s CEO, I believe we are making important strides toward improving our Trucking segment’s productivity, and taking the right steps in building a lean and efficient company that can generate profits in the relative near-term and create sustainable value over time. My first priority has been, and will continue to be, returning USA Truck to profitability as quickly as possible. Accomplishment of that goal requires focusing our efforts on the following objectives:

• Building our leadership team. In addition to my recent appointment to the role, we have recently added a new CFO, an SVP – Human Resources, and a logistics business development leader, each of whom embrace the intensity and accountability we believe are necessary to improve the company’s performance. We are actively recruiting additional talent that we expect to onboard in the coming months as part of our effort to build a best-in-class management team with the experience, grit, determination and leadership we expect will deliver meaningful and sustainable value over the long-term.
• Trucking turnaround. There were measurable improvements in Trucking productivity during the quarter; however, these improvements were overshadowed by continued challenges in seated tractor count. This has been a continuing problem for the Company during the past year, but we have recently seen sequential improvement. While we ended the first quarter of 2017 with an unseated tractor percentage of 8.3% up from 3.1% for the same period in the prior year, average seated tractor count increased sequentially to 1,563 in the quarter, an increase of 1.0% over the fourth quarter of 2016. At the same time, base revenue per seated tractor per week improved 0.9%, to $3,040 up from $3,014 for the fourth quarter of 2016. These metrics demonstrate progress toward our goals of increasing average seated tractor count by 5-7% over the fourth quarter 2016 average of 1,547, and increasing base revenue per seated tractor per week by 3-5% over the full year 2016 average of $2,998.
• Improve base revenue yield. Yield has been a problem for the Company since the second quarter of 2016 when base revenue per loaded mile dropped by $0.17 or 9.1% due to the loss of business from several large customers. As a result, our base revenue per loaded mile for the first quarter of 2017 decreased 3%, or $0.053 per mile, when compared to the same period in 2016. Sequentially, base revenue per loaded mile decreased 0.8%, or $0.014 per mile, showing improved performance when compared to the 7.2% decrease in rate that occurred from fourth quarter 2015 into first quarter 2016.
• Ongoing commitment to reducing costs. We made progress in the first quarter toward our goal of reducing at least $3.5 million in fixed costs in 2017, and remain committed to its achievement. During the quarter, fixed controllable costs reduced $1.1 million year-over-year due to reductions in operations and maintenance, salaries, wages and employee benefits, and operating taxes and licenses, combined. Additionally, we removed 22 tractors from the fleet during the quarter as part of our continued efforts to align our fixed cost structure and fleet size with demand. Operating expenses on a cost-per-mile basis were flat sequentially.
• Drive net revenue growth of USAT Logistics. Results from our USAT Logistics initiatives came in below our expectations for the quarter. Operating revenue decreased 10.1% year over year to $31.4 million. Gross margin decreased to 16.4% in the quarter, down from 18.7% in the first quarter 2016. While we were challenged by difficult market conditions, we are increasing our focus on our sales pipeline and customer contract activity. We are committed to the success of our current initiatives regardless of market dynamics, and will continue to expand our service portfolio, which we expect will diversify and reduce our dependence on dry van truckload freight, focusing specifically on LTL and flat-bed/project cargo.

Trucking

Trucking operating revenue declined $5.4 million, or 7.2%, to $70.3 million for the first quarter of 2017 primarily due to approximately 11% fewer seated tractors and a 3% decrease in base revenue per loaded mile, offset by higher fuel surcharge revenue. Operating loss was ($7.1) million for the 2017 period compared to ($4.4) million for the 2016 period. This change was primarily the result of a $5.4 million decrease in operating revenue and a $4.4 million insurance charge related to adverse claims development during the quarter from prior years’ claims, partially offset by a $2.6 million improvement in operations and maintenance expense and the absence of last year’s $4.8 million restructuring charge.

Operationally, the first quarter performance showed progress in several areas. Productivity improvements were seen in a 4.8% increase in average miles per seated tractor per week, when compared to the same period in the prior year, and a 1.4% increase sequentially over the fourth quarter of 2016. Base revenue per seated tractor per week improved to $3,040, an increase of approximately 0.9% year-over-year and 0.7% sequentially. The average number of in-service tractors decreased 6.1%, or 110 tractors, compared to the first quarter of 2016, and on a sequential basis fleet size remained unchanged. The average number of seated tractors was down 11.1%, or 195 tractors, year-over year. However, on a sequential basis, seated tractor count increased by approximately 1.0%, which is encouraging given our ongoing driver retention challenges and shows progress in driver retention.

Moving forward, we expect to improve our underlying cost structure by focusing on reducing collision expenses to industry peer levels over the next two years, improving driver retention with the goal of reducing costly recruiting costs and turnover inefficiencies, and enhancing network management, which directly impacts operational efficiency and therefore cost. We believe success in these areas will create short-term performance improvement and a long-term structural foundation that will position the trucking business well for 2017 and beyond.

USAT Logistics

Operating revenue decreased 10.1% year-over-year and 5.4% sequentially, while operating income decreased 63.7% year-over-year and 52.8% sequentially. The year-over-year change in operating income was the result of a 12.3% decrease in gross margin, combined with 6.6% less revenue per shipment and 3.8% fewer loads.

Overall, USAT Logistics results reflected continued soft demand for asset-light capacity. While the primary 2017 revenue initiatives did not produce anticipated results, they remain a focus of time, energy and resources. USAT Logistics de Mexico office opening was delayed due to Mexico government regulatory requirements but did open for business on March 1st, and our sales agent initiative showed improved traction as the quarter progressed, but still trails aggressive plan levels. A new customer load board desk has generated significant incremental loads and revenue daily since its implementation during the quarter.

2017 Outlook

We previously indicated that our business initiatives for Trucking and USAT Logistics were expected to have an $11 million – $15 million positive impact on operating income for 2017 compared to 2016. However, much softer demand in our logistics business and slower pace of seating of tractors made for a slower than expected start to the year. As a result, although we continue to execute on these business initiatives, we now expect they will have a $6 million – $10 million positive impact on 2017 operating income when compared to 2016. We will continue to invest in the scope and services of USAT Logistics and now expect this business to generate approximately 35% of our consolidated revenue by the end of 2017. We also expect to return to operating profitability in the third quarter 2017.

Segment Results

The following table includes key operating results and statistics by reportable segment:

Balance Sheet and Liquidity

As of March 31, 2017, our total debt and capital lease obligations, net of cash (“Net Debt”), was $131.8 million and our stockholders’ equity was $53.7 million. Net Debt to Adjusted EBITDA(a) increased year-over-year to 5.6x compared with 4.8x as of December 31, 2016. The Company had approximately $43.2 million available under its credit facility as of March 31, 2017. Our long-term goal remains to reduce our leverage ratio to between 2.5-3.0x of Net Debt to Adjusted EBITDA(a).

First Quarter 2017 Conference Call Information

USA Truck will hold a conference call to discuss its first quarter 2017 results on Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at 8:00 AM CT / 9:00 AM ET. To participate in the call, please dial 1-844-824-3828 (U.S./Canada) or 1-412-317-5138 (International). A live webcast of the conference call will be broadcast in the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website www.usa-truck.com, under the “Events & Presentations” tab of the “Investor Relations” menu. For those who cannot listen to the live broadcast, the presentation materials and an audio replay of the call will be available at our website, www.usa-truck.com, under the “Events & Presentations” tab of the “Investor Relations” menu. A telephone replay of the call will also be available through Wednesday, May 10, 2017, and may be accessed by calling 1-877-344-7529 (U.S.), 1-855-669-9658 (Canada), or 1-412-317-0088 (International) and by referencing conference ID #10101960.

(a) About Non-GAAP Financial Information

In addition to our GAAP results, this press release also includes certain non-GAAP financial measures, as defined by the SEC. The terms base revenue, “EBITDA”, “Adjusted EBITDA”, “Adjusted operating ratio”, and “Adjusted earnings per diluted share”, as we define them, are not presented in accordance with GAAP.

The Company defines EBITDA as net loss, plus interest expense net of interest income, provision for income taxes and depreciation and amortization. It defines Adjusted EBITDA as these items plus non-cash equity compensation, and severance costs included in salaries, wages and employee benefits. Adjusted operating ratio is calculated as operating expenses less restructuring, impairment and other costs and severance costs included in salaries, wages and employee benefits, net of fuel surcharges, as a percentage of operating revenue excluding fuel surcharge revenue. Adjusted earnings (loss) per diluted share is defined as earnings (loss) before income taxes plus restructuring, impairment and other costs, and severance costs included in salaries, wages and employee benefits reduced by our statutory income tax rate, divided by weighted average diluted shares outstanding. These financial measures supplement our GAAP results in evaluating certain aspects of our business. We believe that using these measures improves comparability in analyzing our performance because they remove the impact of items from our operating results that, in our opinion, do not reflect our core operating performance. Management and the board of directors focus on EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted operating ratio and Adjusted earnings per diluted share as key measures of our performance, all of which are reconciled to the most comparable GAAP financial measures and further discussed below. We believe our presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is useful because it provides investors and securities analysts the same information that we use internally for purposes of assessing our core operating performance.

EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted operating ratio and Adjusted earnings per diluted share are not substitutes for their comparable GAAP financial measures, such as net income, cash flows from operating activities, operating margin, or other measures prescribed by GAAP. There are limitations to using non-GAAP financial measures. Although we believe that they improve comparability in analyzing our period to period performance, they could limit comparability to other companies in our industry if those companies define these measures differently. Because of these limitations, our non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered measures of income generated by our business or discretionary cash available to us to invest in the growth of our business. Management compensates for these limitations by primarily relying on GAAP results and using non-GAAP financial measures on a supplemental basis.

Pursuant to the requirements of Regulation G and Regulation S-K, we have provided reconciliations of EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted earnings per diluted share and Adjusted operating ratio to GAAP financial measures at the end of this press release.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Financial information in this press release is preliminary and based upon information available to the Company as of the date of this press release. As such, this information remains subject to the completion of our quarterly review procedures, and the filing of the related Form 10-Q, which could result in changes, some of which could be material, to the preliminary information provided in this press release.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements generally may be identified by their use of terms or phrases such as “expects,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “projects,” “believes,” “plans,” “goals,” “intends,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “potential,” “continue,” “strategy,” “future” and terms or phrases of similar substance. Forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our management and are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified, which could cause future events and actual results to differ materially from those set forth in, contemplated by, or underlying the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Readers should review and consider the factors that may affect future results and other disclosures by the Company in its press releases, Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We disclaim any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results or changes in the factors affecting the forward-looking information, except as required by law. In light of these risks and uncertainties, the forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this press release might not occur. All forward-looking statements attributable to us, or persons acting on our behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

References to the “Company,” “we,” “us,” “our” and words of similar import refer to USA Truck, Inc. and its subsidiary.

About USA Truck

USA Truck provides comprehensive capacity solutions to a broad and diverse customer base throughout North America. Our Trucking and USAT Logistics divisions blend an extensive portfolio of asset and asset-light services, offering a balanced approach to supply chain management including customized truckload, dedicated contract carriage, intermodal and third-party logistics freight management services. For more information, visit usa-truck.com or usatlogistics.com.

This press release and related information will be available to interested parties at our investor relations website, http://investor.usa-truck.com.

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