The Phoenix-based carrier said that for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2003, revenue, before fuel surcharge, increased 14.0% to $87.1 million from $76.4 million for the same quarter of 2002. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2003, net income increased 22.0% to $10.0 million from $8.2 million for the same period of 2002. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2003, net income per share increased to $0.26 from $0.22 for the same quarter in 2002.
For the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2003, revenue, before fuel surcharge, increased 17.0% to $326.9 million from $279.4 million for the same period of 2002. For the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2003, net income increased 27.2% to $35.5 million from $27.9 million for the same period of 2002. For the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2003, net income per diluted share increased to $0.93 from $0.73 for the same period of 2002.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kevin P. Knight said: “Freight demand remained solid through the end of the year, and we perceived little evidence of growth in industry-wide tractor-trailer capacity. These factors, along with the hard work of our sales and operations groups, contributed to our seventh consecutive quarter of increase in revenue per mile. We were especially pleased to grow our tractor fleet internally by 13 percent versus the same quarter last year and also raise our revenue per tractor. We believe our strategy of opening new operations centers in targeted cities continues to pay off.”
