FedEx Reducing Costs to Increase Its Profits

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COMPETITION WATCH: TransForce revenue, profits soar in Q2

MONTREAL, Que. -- Acquisitions of Loomis Express, IE Miller and Quik X propelled TransForce to a 25% increase in revenue in the second quarter. Total revenue increased $161.2 million to $812.0 million in the three-month period ending June 30.

Profits rose 39% year-over-year, reaching $68.6 million, or 8.5% of total revenue, up from $49.3 million, or 7.6% of total revenue in the corresponding period a year earlier. All business segments delivered a higher year-over-year profit in monetary terms, the company announced.

"TransForce achieved a strong 39% increase in its key EBIT metric despite market conditions that resulted in flat volume and limited pricing power. Approximately 50% of the EBIT increase reflects our ongoing drive to optimize efficiency and asset utilization, while the other half is from strategic acquisitions," said Alain Bédard, chairman, president and CEO of TransForce.

“In Package and Courier, margins are maintaining their gradual sequential increase, as we continue to aggressively implement profit enhancement measures to return to profitability levels achieved prior to the Dynamex and Loomis Express acquisitions. Our constant focus on maximizing return on assets and discipline with regards to capacity in the less-than-truckload and truckload segments continues to pay off, as margins improved substantially despite slightly declining revenue. The acquisitions in the energy sector continue to drive our strong performance in both revenue and operating profitability.”

For the six-month period ended June 30, total revenue reached $1.6 billion, up 32% from $1.2 billion for the same period a year earlier.

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Qualcomm Reports Higher Profits for 4Q, Year

Qualcomm Inc. said its fiscal fourth-quarter net income rose 22% to $1.06 billion, or 62 cents per share, from $865 million, or 53 cents, a year ago.

Revenue increased 39% to $4.12 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 25, the maker of trucking communication devices and wireless chips said in a statement.

The company said it shipped 127 million units of its CDMA-based mobile station modem devices in the quarter, with sales rising 38% to $39 billion.

In the same period last year it shipped 111 million of units and generated sales of $28 million on the mobile station devices.

CDMA, or code division multiple access, allows several users to share a communications channel, or bandwidth.

For fiscal year 2011, Qualcomm said its earnings climbed 31% to $4.26 billion, or $2.52 per share, on revenue of $15 billion, up 36% from the previous year.

CEO Paul Jacobs said the company delivered record revenue, earnings and MSM chipset shipments this year, driven by the popularity of smartphones and continued adoption of 3G technology.

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Oil Companies' Profits Rise on Higher Crude Prices

Several major oil companies cited higher crude prices in reporting higher third-quarter profits. 

• Chevron Corp. said Friday its profit more than doubled, to $7.83 billion, or $3.92 per share, from $3.77 billion, or $1.87, a year ago. Revenue jumped 26% to $61.3 billion.

• Exxon Mobil Corp.’s net income rose 41% to $10.33 billion, or $2.13 per share from $7.35 billion, or $1.44. Revenue rose 32% to $125.3 billion.

• Royal Dutch Shell’s profit rose to $6.98 billion, from $3.46 billion. Revenue rose 33% to $127 billion.

• ConocoPhillips’ income slipped of $2.6 billion, or $1.91 per share, from $3.1 billion, or $2.05. Revenue rose 33% to $62.78 billion.

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iTECH: Fleets See Greater Productivity, Profits From Refrigerated Trailer Tracking

By Eric Brothers, Contributing Writer

This article appears in the October/November 2011 issue of iTECH, published in the Oct. 10 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

When Stevens Transport Inc. went looking for a tracking system for its refrigerated trailers, at the top of its wish list was technology that not only would send a report about problems with the reefer but also would allow the company to take care of the trouble on the fly.

“We have been seeking a provider who was capable of two-way control of the temperature settings,” said Scott Mellman, the Dallas-based carrier’s director of logistics. “Knowing that a trailer was inadvertently set at the wrong temperature was nice to know, but being able to react and correct it in real time is the key.”

Stevens Transport, No. 44 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers, currently is testing StarTrak Information Technologies’ trailer devices on 100 of its 3,500 refrigerated trailers, Mellman said. The devices, he said, provide inventory management data such as dwell time, temperature history, alerts (fuel level low, rapid fuel loss, bad sensors), reefer settings (start/stop or cycle sentry) and transport refrigeration unit (TRU) engine hours — information useful for maintenance planning.

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