Covenant Transportation Group Announces Third Quarter Financial and Operating Results

Cash Flow and Liquidity
Richard B. Cribbs, the Company's Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, added the following comments: "At September 30, 2012, our total balance sheet debt and capital lease obligations, net of cash, were $164.4 million, and the discounted value of future obligations under off-balance sheet operating lease obligations was approximately $68.9 million, including the residual value guarantees under those leases.  At September 30, 2012, our stockholders' equity was $94.0 million, and our tangible book value was $93.4 million, or $6.33 per basic share.  Since the end of 2011, the Company's balance sheet debt and capital lease obligations, net of cash, has decreased by $74.2 million, while the present value of financing provided by operating leases increased by approximately $10.6 million.  At September 30, 2012, our ratio of net debt to total balance sheet capitalization was 63.6%.

"Our existing annual tractor fleet plan for 2012 includes the delivery of approximately 420 tractors and disposal of approximately 750 used tractors, of which we took delivery of approximately 236 tractors and disposed of approximately 600 tractors in the first nine months of fiscal 2012. In addition, our strategy to increase the number and relative percentage of our fleet utilizing less capital-intensive owner-operators has resulted in an increase of approximately 52 owner-operator trucks, or a 24.1% increase, since December 31, 2011. With a relatively young average tractor fleet age of 24 months at September 30, 2012, we believe there is significant flexibility to manage our fleet, and we plan to regularly evaluate our tractor replacement cycle and new tractor purchase requirements. We had $34.3 million of available borrowing capacity under our revolving credit facility at September 30, 2012. In addition, we believe we have sufficient financing available from the captive finance subsidiaries of our main tractor suppliers and other available financing to fund our expected revenue equipment purchases in 2012 and 2013.

"We were in compliance with our financial covenants at September 30, 2012. Our leverage ratio as measured under our primary credit facility (total debt, capital leases, the present value of operating leases, and letters of credit outstanding divided by adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and rents ("EBITDAR")), was 3.05, with $42.4 million of undrawn letters of credit included in the calculation. Our 49% equity investment in Transport Enterprise Leasing contributed approximately $0.6 million of pre-tax income in the third quarter."

Conference Call Information
The Company will host a live conference call tomorrow, October 31, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss the quarter.  Individuals may access the call by dialing 800-351-4894 (U.S./Canada) and 334-323-7224 (International), access code CTG3.  An audio replay will be available for one week following the call at 877-919-4059, access code 10843885. In addition, you will be able to listen to the audio replay for an extended period of time on our investor website, under the icon "Audio Archives". For additional financial and statistical information regarding the Company that is expected to be discussed during the conference call, please visit our website at www.ctgcompanies.com/investor-relations under the icon "Earnings Info."

Covenant Transportation Group, Inc. is the holding company for several transportation providers that offer premium transportation services for customers throughout the United States. The consolidated group includes operations from Covenant Transport and Covenant Transport Solutions of Chattanooga, Tennessee; Southern Refrigerated Transport of Texarkana, Arkansas; and Star Transportation of Nashville, Tennessee.  In addition, Transport Enterprise Leasing, of Chattanooga, Tennessee is an integral affiliated company. The Company's Class A common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select under the symbol, "CVTI".

This press release contains certain statements that may be considered 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 statements may be identified by their use of terms or phrases such as "expects," "estimates," "projects," "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "intends," and similar terms and phrases.  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.  In this press release, the statements relating to our management of idle time and truck speeds, investment in more fuel-efficient tractors, implementation of fuel hedges and fuel surcharges, equipment purchases and disposals, and the availability of sufficient financing for equipment purchases are forward-looking statements.  The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements: elevated experience in the frequency and severity of claims relating to accident, cargo, workers' compensation, health, and other claims, increased insurance premiums, fluctuations in claims expenses that result from our self-insured retention amounts, including in our excess layers and in respect of claims for which we commute policy coverage, and the requirement that we pay additional premiums if there are claims in certain of those layers, differences between estimates used in establishing and adjusting claims reserves and actual results over time, adverse changes in claims experience and loss development factors, or additional changes in management's estimates of liability based upon such experience and development factors that cause our expectations of insurance and claims expense to be inaccurate or otherwise impacts our results; changes in the market condition for used revenue equipment and real estate that impact our capital expenditures and our ability to dispose of revenue equipment and real estate on the schedule and for the prices we expect; increases in the prices paid for new revenue equipment that impact our capital expenditures and our results generally; changes in management's estimates of the need for new tractors and trailers; the effect of any reduction in tractor purchases on the number of tractors that will be accepted by manufacturers under tradeback arrangements; our inability to generate sufficient cash from operations and obtain financing on favorable terms to meet our significant ongoing capital requirements; our ability to maintain compliance with the provisions of our credit agreements, particularly financial covenants in our revolving credit facility; excess tractor or trailer capacity in the trucking industry; decreased demand for our services or loss of one or more of our major customers; our ability to renew dedicated service offering contracts on the terms and schedule we expect; surplus inventories, recessionary economic cycles, and downturns in customers' business cycles; strikes, work slowdowns, or work stoppages at the Company, customers, ports, or other shipping related facilities; increases or rapid fluctuations in fuel prices, as well as fluctuations in hedging activities and surcharge collection, including, but not limited to, changes in customer fuel surcharge policies and increases in fuel surcharge bases by customers; the volume and terms of diesel purchase commitments; interest rates, fuel taxes, tolls, and license and registration fees; increases in compensation for and difficulty in attracting and retaining qualified drivers and independent contractors; seasonal factors such as harsh weather conditions that increase operating costs; competition from trucking, rail, and intermodal competitors; regulatory requirements that increase costs, decrease efficiency, or reduce the availability of drivers, including revised hours-of-service requirements for drivers and the Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 that implemented new driver standards and modified the methodology for determining a carrier's DOT safety rating; the ability to reduce, or control increases in, operating costs; changes in the Company's business strategy that require the acquisition of new businesses, and the ability to identify acceptable acquisition candidates, consummate acquisitions, and integrate acquired operations.  Readers should review and consider these factors along with the various disclosures by the Company in its press releases, stockholder reports, and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  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.

Covenant Transportation Group, Inc.
Key Financial and Operating Statistics
		INCOME STATEMENT DATA				INCOME STATEMENT DATA
		Three Months Ended Sep 30,				Nine Months Ended Sep 30,
($000s, except per share data)		2012	2011	% Change		2012	2011	% Change
Freight revenue		$132,961	$126,482	5.1%		$389,081	$384,530	1.2%
Fuel surcharge revenue		35,466	34,936			107,678	106,144
	Total revenue	$168,427	$161,418	4.3%		$496,759	$490,674	1.2%
Operating expenses:
	Salaries, wages, and related expenses	53,488	52,458			159,045	158,673
	Fuel expense	48,601	52,324			145,174	159,297
	Operations and maintenance	12,024	11,623			33,691	32,511
	Revenue equipment rentals and
	purchased transportation	22,641	15,800			61,819	45,237
	Operating taxes and licenses	2,863	3,019			8,297	9,135
	Insurance and claims	8,282	7,801			24,271	27,683
	Communications and utilities	1,201	1,312			3,576	3,895
	General supplies and expenses	3,976	3,572			11,575	11,421
	Depreciation and amortization, including gains and
	losses on disposition of property and equipment	10,706	11,724			31,251	33,503
	Goodwill impairment charge	-	11,539			- Werbung Mehr Nachrichten zur Covenant Transportation Group Aktie kostenlos abonnieren E-Mail-Adresse Bitte überprüfe deine die E-Mail-Adresse. Benachrichtigungen von ARIVA.DE (Mit der Bestellung akzeptierst du die Datenschutzhinweise) -1 Vielen Dank, dass du dich für unseren Newsletter angemeldet hast. Du erhältst in Kürze eine E-Mail mit einem Aktivierungslink. Hinweis: ARIVA.DE veröffentlicht in dieser Rubrik Analysen, Kolumnen und Nachrichten aus verschiedenen Quellen. Die ARIVA.DE AG ist nicht verantwortlich für Inhalte, die erkennbar von Dritten in den „News“-Bereich dieser Webseite eingestellt worden sind, und macht sich diese nicht zu Eigen. Diese Inhalte sind insbesondere durch eine entsprechende „von“-Kennzeichnung unterhalb der Artikelüberschrift und/oder durch den Link „Um den vollständigen Artikel zu lesen, klicken Sie bitte hier.“ erkennbar; verantwortlich für diese Inhalte ist allein der genannte Dritte. Andere Nutzer interessierten sich auch für folgende News 23.04.24 - PR Newswire BlackRock Energy and Resources Income Trust Plc - Transaction in Own Shares 23.04.24 - PR Newswire BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust Plc - Dividend Exchange Rate Set 23.04.24 - PR Newswire BH Macro Limited - Transaction in Own Shares Der KI-Boom ist vorbei!    Aber dieser heiße Sektor verspricht, weiter zu wachsen... weiterlesen» Anzeige wo-site-teaser-box-16737_site-teaser-box_2024-04-23_09%253A00%253A00_2024-04-24_09%253A00%253A59