Marten Transport Ltd (NASDAQ: MRTN) reported a 15.2% increase in net income to $5.2 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010, from $4.5 million for the second quarter of 2009.
For the Mondovi WI-based temperature-sensitive truckload carrier, second-quarter earnings also improved from 2010 first-quarter net income of $3.9 million. For the six-month period of 2010, net income climbed to $9.1 million, compared with $8.5 million for the same six-month period of 2009.
Operating revenue, consisting of revenue from truckload and logistics operations, rose to $125.9 million in the second quarter of 2010 from $125.8 million in the 2009 quarter and advanced to $251.7 million in the six-month period of 2010 from $247.8 million in the 2009 six-month period.
The operating ratio (operating expenses as a percentage of operating revenue) improved to 92.7% for the second quarter of 2010 from 94.0% for the second quarter of 2009 and improved to 93.6% for the 2010 six-month period from 94.0% for the 2009 six-month period.
Randolph L Marten, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “We are encouraged by our solid results. We continue to benefit from the advances in our transformation into a multi-faceted business model, focusing on expansion of our regional operations throughout the country, the growth of our logistics business, and our fuel efficiency and cost control measures.
“These strategic initiatives have driven our positive results this year,” he said. “As evidence of the success of our regional operations, our average truckload revenue, net of fuel surcharges, per tractor per week increased by 4.7% in the second quarter over last year’s second quarter and by 5.5% over this year’s first quarter. We have increased our regional operations to 40.4% of our truckload fleet as of June 30, 2010 from 20.4% as of a year earlier. Our logistics revenue continues to be an important factor in our growth, providing an expanding percentage of our revenue. In the second quarter of 2010, our logistics revenue, net of intermodal fuel surcharges, grew $1.1 million over the 2009 quarter and, for the 2010 six-month period, grew $6.0 million over the 2009 six-month period. Additionally, we continue to decrease operating expenses in the face of increasing fuel prices through our aggressive cost controls.”
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