Having temporarily suspended acquisition negotiations with Arnold Industries to buy the company’s logistics operations because of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, less-than-truckload conglomerate Roadway Corp. of Akron, OH, says it will extend the negotiation period until October 26. It has offered $105 million in cash for the Arnold operations.
Roadway says the attack, combined with a poor overall economy, has also resulted in a falloff in revenue and net income. For Roadway’s first three quarters, the carrier reports that net income dropped 44.8% to $17.1 million, from net income of $31.1 million for the same period in 2000. For the first three quarters of 2001, revenues totaled $1.92 billion, a decrease of 7.6% when compared to revenues of $2.08 billion for the first three quarters of last year.
In the third quarter, Roadway says total tonnage was down 13.2% from third quarter 2000 levels. LTL tons were down 13.2% and truckload tonnage was down 13.1%. Revenue per ton for the quarter increased 4.1% and operating expenses per ton rose 4.6% over 2000, according to the carrier.
Despite those results, Michael W. Wickham, Roadway’s chairman and CEO, says the acquisition of Arnold is moving ahead as planned. He also expects the LTL pricing environment to remain stable and anticipates Roadway’s fourth quarter operating ratio will improve by approximately 1/2 to one point when compared to the quarter just ended.