News Announcement
CONTACT: | ||
Richard Gaetz, President/CEO Sean Washchuk, VP Finance/CFO Vitran Corporation Inc. | Robert Rinderman, Steven Hecht Jaffoni & Collins Incorporated 212/835-8500 or VTNC@jcir.com | |
416/596-7664 | ||
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
VITRAN REPORTS RECORD Q4 DILUTED EPS OF $0.39 AND FY ’05 EPS OF $1.40
- - 2005 Fourth Quarter LTL OR Improves 210 Basis Points to 92.6 -
- - Earnings Increase Streak Continues at 17 Straight Quarters -
TORONTO, ONTARIO (February 9, 2006) – Vitran Corporation Inc. (NASDAQ: VTNC, TSX: VTN), a North American transportation and logistics firm, today announced record quarterly financial results for the 2005 fourth quarter and for the year ended December 31, 2005 (all figures reported in $U.S.).
Vitran achieved its best-ever results for a fourth quarter period including, net income of $5.0 million, earnings per diluted share of $0.39 and revenue of $113.0 million. In the comparable 2004 three-month period, Vitran posted revenue of $96.5 million, net income of $4.4 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, which included a one-time tax benefit of $0.05 per diluted share reflecting the recognition of a loss carry-forward of approximately $0.7 million.
Vitran President and Chief Executive Officer Rick Gaetz, stated, “We are proud of once again achieving record quarterly operating results, and the consistency of Vitran’s performance – recording our 17th successive quarter of prior year quarter of net income improvement.
“Following the end of our fourth quarter, we announced the closing of the Sierra West Express acquisition, marking our initial move into the Western U.S. and consistent with Vitran’s long-range plan of operating a premier, regional LTL freight transportation network covering North America.”
In the past nine months, Vitran secured two key regional U.S. LTL acquisitions– Chris Truck Line in the Southwest and Sierra West Express in the West – and management continues to seek additional accretive U.S. acquisitions to further extend Vitran’s North American footprint. At December 31, 2005, the Company had $14.6 million in cash on hand and an additional $26.8 million of available credit.
For the year ended December 31, 2005, Vitran achieved record results – net income of $17.9 million, or $1.40 per diluted share, on revenue of $428.2 million. In the year earlier period, the Company reported net income of $14.9 million, or $1.17 per diluted share, on revenue of $374.6 million.
Segmented Results
Income from operations at Vitran’s LTL (less-than-truckload) segment rose 66 percent during the 2005 fourth quarter to $6.9 million, as revenue grew 29 percent at the Company’s U.S. LTL business unit and six percent in Canada. The LTL segment’s OR (operating ratio) improved significantly on both a quarterly and a year-over-year basis. Vitran’s Q4 ’05 LTL OR improved to 92.6, compared to 94.7 in the year-ago period. The LTL segment’s OR for the full year was 93.1, compared to 94.2 in the twelve months ended December 31, 2004.
The U.S. LTL business unit achieved a nine percent increase in revenue per shipment, and an eight percent rise in revenue per hundredweight over the prior year quarter. The Canadian LTL business unit posted a 10 percent increase in revenue per shipment and a 13 percent increase in revenue per hundredweight for the 2005 Q4 compared to the same period a year ago.
During the 2005 fourth quarter, Vitran’s Logistics segment recorded a 16 percent increase in income from operations, a 15 percent increase in revenue and a 94.5 OR, unchanged from the prior year Q4. The Truckload segment reported operating income of $0.4 million, revenue of $8.4 million and an OR of 95.1, during the period.
Management’s EPS Guidance
On January 3, 2006, Vitran management established full-year 2006 diluted earnings per share (EPS) guidance of between $1.63 and $1.73.
Share Buyback Renewed
Vitran also announced its intention to renew its normal course issuer bid to acquire up to 632,381 (approximately five percent) of its outstanding common shares by way of open market purchases through the facilities of, and in accordance with, the Rules and Policies of the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). The shares will be repurchased for cancellation. As at February 8, 2006, Vitran had 12,647,636 common shares outstanding. The bid will commence on February 13, 2006 and end February 12, 2007. During Vitran’s previous bid, which expired on February 8, 2006, the Company purchased 59,800 common shares on the TSX at an average price of CDN$18.70 per share. Vitran’s management believes such purchases to be a prudent use of funds.
About Vitran Corporation Inc.
Vitran Corporation Inc. is a North American group of transportation companies offering
less-than-truckload, logistics, truckload, and freight brokerage services. To find out more about Vitran Corporation Inc. (NASDAQ:VTNC, TSX:VTN), visit the website atwww.vitran.com.
Statements in the press release regarding management’s future expectation, beliefs, goals, plans, or prospects constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. For this purpose, any statements that are contained herein that are not statements or historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Without limiting the foregoing, the words “believes”, “anticipates”, “plans” “intends”, “will”, “should”, ”expects”, “projects”, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, including earnings per share guidance, future circumstances or events to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, economic factors, demand for the Company’s services, fuel price fluctuations, the availability of employee drivers and independent contractors, risks associated with geographic expansion, capital requirements, claims exposure and insurance costs, competition, government regulation changes, environmental hazards and other risks detailed from time-to-time in the Company’s public disclosure documents or other filing with the Canadian and United States securities commissions or other securities regulatory bodies. The forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof, and the Company disclaims any intention and has no obligation or responsibility, except as required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
(tables follow)
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VITRAN CORPORATION INC.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(in thousands of United States dollars)
Dec. 31, 2005 | Dec. 31, 2004 | |||||||||||
Assets | ||||||||||||
Current assets: | ||||||||||||
Cash | $ | 14,592 | $ | 7,375 | ||||||||
Marketable securities | — | 33,087 | ||||||||||
Accounts receivable | 46,587 | 40,124 | ||||||||||
Inventory, deposits and prepaid expenses | 8,396 | 5,924 | ||||||||||
Future income tax assets | 1,442 | 3,667 | ||||||||||
71,017 | 90,177 | |||||||||||
Capital assets | 66,807 | 37,563 | ||||||||||
Intangible assets | 2,456 | — | ||||||||||
Goodwill | 61,448 | 45,304 | ||||||||||
$ | 201,728 | $ | 173,044 | |||||||||
Liabilities and Shareholders’ Equity | ||||||||||||
Current liabilities: | ||||||||||||
Accounts payable & accrued liabilities | $ | 41,362 | $ | 33,377 | ||||||||
Income and other taxes payable | 1,124 | 2,399 | ||||||||||
Current portion of long-term debt | 5,845 | 3,030 | ||||||||||
48,331 | 38,806 | |||||||||||
Long-term debt | 8,588 | 11,507 | ||||||||||
Future income tax liabilities | 5,007 | 3,546 | ||||||||||
Shareholders’ equity: | ||||||||||||
Common stock | 63,604 | 60,798 | ||||||||||
Contributed surplus | 956 | 323 | ||||||||||
Retained earnings | 72,310 | 54,972 | ||||||||||
Cumulative translation adjustment | 2,932 | 3,092 | ||||||||||
139,802 | 119,185 | |||||||||||
$ | 201,728 | $ | 173,044 | |||||||||
(Statements of Income follows)
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VITRAN CORPORATION INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME
(in thousands of United States dollars, except share and per share amounts)
Three Months | Twelve Months | |||||||||||||||
Ended December 31, | Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||
(unaudited) | ||||||||||||||||
2005 | 2004 | 2005 | 2004 | |||||||||||||
Revenues | $ | 112,975 | $ | 96,523 | $ | 428,192 | $ | 374,595 | ||||||||
Operating expenses | 95,013 | 82,787 | 357,960 | 319,295 | ||||||||||||
Selling, general and administrative | ||||||||||||||||
expenses | 8,870 | 7,632 | 37,881 | 31,263 | ||||||||||||
Other expense (income) | (8 | ) | (4 | ) | (41 | ) | (146 | ) | ||||||||
103,875 | 90,415 | 395,800 | 350,412 | |||||||||||||
Income from operations before | ||||||||||||||||
depreciation and amortization | 9,100 | 6,108 | 32,392 | 24,183 | ||||||||||||
Depreciation and amortization expense | 2,163 | 1,371 | 6,965 | 5,206 | ||||||||||||
Income from operations before undernoted | 6,937 | 4,737 | 25,427 | 18,977 | ||||||||||||
Interest expense (income), net | 89 | (36 | ) | 298 | 51 | |||||||||||
Income from operations before income taxes | 6,848 | 4,773 | 25,129 | 18,926 | ||||||||||||
Income taxes | 1,836 | 408 | 7,191 | 3,983 | ||||||||||||
Net income | $ | 5,012 | $ | 4,365 | $ | 17,938 | $ | 14,943 | ||||||||
Income per share: | ||||||||||||||||
Basic | $ | 0.40 | $ | 0.35 | $ | 1.43 | $ | 1.22 | ||||||||
Diluted | $ | 0.39 | $ | 0.34 | $ | 1.40 | $ | 1.17 | ||||||||
Weighted average number of shares | ||||||||||||||||
Basic | 12,618,416 | 12,417,594 | 12,516,265 | 12,285,400 | ||||||||||||
Diluted | 12,930,661 | 12,771,235 | 12,848,360 | 12,740,477 | ||||||||||||
(Statements of Cash Flows follows)
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VITRAN CORPORATION INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(In thousands of United States dollars)
Three months | Three months | Twelve months | Twelve months | |||||||||||||
Ended | Ended | Ended | Ended | |||||||||||||
Dec. 31, 2005 | Dec. 31, 2004 | Dec. 31, 2005 | Dec. 31, 2004 | |||||||||||||
(unaudited) | ||||||||||||||||
Cash provided by (used in): | ||||||||||||||||
Operations: | ||||||||||||||||
Net income | $ | 5,012 | $ | 4,365 | $ | 17,938 | $ | 14,943 | ||||||||
Items not involving cash from operations: | ||||||||||||||||
Depreciation and amortization expense | 2,163 | 1,371 | 6,965 | 5,206 | ||||||||||||
Future income taxes | 1,008 | (291 | ) | 3,685 | 1,266 | |||||||||||
Stock based compensation expense | 180 | 146 | 654 | 323 | ||||||||||||
Gain on sale of fixed assets | (8 | ) | (4 | ) | (41 | ) | (146 | ) | ||||||||
8,355 | 5,587 | 29,201 | 21,592 | |||||||||||||
Change in non-cash working capital components | 4,659 | 382 | (2,034 | ) | (6,839 | ) | ||||||||||
13,014 | 5,969 | 27,167 | 14,753 | |||||||||||||
Investing: | ||||||||||||||||
Purchase of capital assets | (5,212 | ) | (2,249 | ) | (22,863 | ) | (6,242 | ) | ||||||||
Proceeds on sale of capital assets | 9 | 6 | 97 | 248 | ||||||||||||
Acquisition of subsidiary | — | — | (28,192 | ) | — | |||||||||||
Marketable securities | — | (3,542 | ) | 31,974 | (3,981 | ) | ||||||||||
(5,203 | ) | (5,785 | ) | (18,984 | ) | (9,975 | ) | |||||||||
Financing: | ||||||||||||||||
Revolving credit facility | (2,127 | ) | — | 2,947 | — | |||||||||||
Repayment of long-term debt | (1,320 | ) | (5,570 | ) | (3,030 | ) | (11,716 | ) | ||||||||
Issue of Common Shares upon exercise of | ||||||||||||||||
stock options | 222 | 38 | 282 | 1,440 | ||||||||||||
Repurchase of Common Shares | — | — | (921 | ) | — | |||||||||||
(3,225 | ) | (5,532 | ) | (722 | ) | (10,276 | ) | |||||||||
Effect of translation adjustment on cash | (803 | ) | 227 | (244 | ) | 456 | ||||||||||
Increase (decrease) in cash position | 3,783 | (5,121 | ) | 7,217 | (5,042 | ) | ||||||||||
Cash position, beginning of period | 10,809 | 12,496 | 7,375 | 12,417 | ||||||||||||
Cash position, end of period | $ | 14,592 | $ | 7,375 | $ | 14,592 | $ | 7,375 | ||||||||
Change in non-cash working capital components: | ||||||||||||||||
Accounts receivable | $ | 6,298 | $ | 4,740 | $ | (3,419 | ) | $ | (4,439 | ) | ||||||
Inventory, deposits and prepaid expenses | (1,042 | ) | 316 | (1,963 | ) | (77 | ) | |||||||||
Income and other taxes recoverable/payable | 374 | (530 | ) | (1,275 | ) | (1,608 | ) | |||||||||
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities | (971 | ) | (4,144 | ) | 4,623 | (715 | ) | |||||||||
$ | 4,659 | $ | 382 | $ | (2,034 | ) | $ | (6,839 | ) | |||||||
(additional financial information follows)
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LTL Statistical Information — U.S. and CDN Divisions
For the quarter ended December 31, 2005 |
U.S. LTL | Q. over Q. | CDN LTL | Q. over Q. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
($U.S.) Division | % Change ($CDN) | Division | % Change | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Revenue (000’s) | $ | 54,763 | 28.9 | Revenue (000's) | $ | 45,355 | 6.0 | ||||||||||||||||||
No. of Shipments | 433,217 | 18.4 | No. of Shipments | 210,021 | (3.7 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||
Weight (000’s lbs) | 612,545 | 19.0 | Weight (000's lbs) | 395,608 | (6.0 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||
Revenue per shipment | $ | 126.41 | 8.9 | Revenue per shipment | $ | 215.95 | 10.0 | ||||||||||||||||||
Revenue per CWT | $ | 8.94 | 8.3 | Revenue per CWT | $ | 11.46 | 12.7 | ||||||||||||||||||
For the twelve months ended | ||||||||||||||||||||
December 31, 2005 | ||||||||||||||||||||
U.S. LTL | Yr. over Yr. | CDN LTL | Yr. over Yr. | |||||||||||||||||
($U.S.) | Division | % Change | ($CDN) | Division | % Change | |||||||||||||||
Revenue (000’s) | $ | 204,223 | 18.5 | Revenue (000's) | $ | 179,163 | 6.1 | |||||||||||||
No. of Shipments | 1,683,529 | 11.7 | No. of Shipments | 855,663 | (5.8 | ) | ||||||||||||||
Weight (000’s lbs) | 2,346,745 | 9.0 | Weight (000's lbs) | 1,656,295 | (4.9 | ) | ||||||||||||||
Revenue per shipment | $ | 121.31 | 6.1 | Revenue per shipment | $ | 209.39 | 12.6 | |||||||||||||
Revenue per CWT | $ | 8.70 | 8.8 | Revenue per CWT | $ | 10.82 | 11.5 | |||||||||||||
Supplementary Segmented Financial Information
(000’s of $U.S.)
For the quarter | For the quarter | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ended December 31, | ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2005 | 2004 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Revenue | Inc. from | OR% | Revenue | Inc. from | OR% | |||||||||||||||||||||||
— | Operations | — | — | Operations | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||
LTL | 93,501 | 6,873 | 92.6 | LTL | 78,073 | 4,144 | 94.7 | |||||||||||||||||||||
LOG | 11,118 | 609 | 94.5 | LOG | 9,628 | 527 | 94.5 | |||||||||||||||||||||
TL | 8,356 | 408 | 95.1 | TL | 8,822 | 468 | 94.7 | |||||||||||||||||||||
For the twelve | For the twelve | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
months ended Dec. | months ended Dec. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
31, 2005 | 31, 2004 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Revenue | Inc. from | OR% | Revenue | Inc. from | OR% | |||||||||||||||||||||||
— | Operations | — | — | Operations | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||
LTL | 352,693 | 24,494 | 93.1 | LTL | 303,017 | 17,604 | 94.2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
LOG | 40,261 | 2,141 | 94.7 | LOG | 35,499 | 1,668 | 95.3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
TL | 35,238 | 2,308 | 93.5 | TL | 36,079 | 1,968 | 94.5 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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