Frozen Food Express Loses Less in 4Q

Refrigerated trucking company Frozen Food Express Industries lost $201,000 in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared with a loss of $3.5 million in the same period in 2007, an improvement helped in part by stronger intermodal revenue.

Income from operations during the quarter improved to $194,000 from a $5.4 million loss in 2007. Revenue in the quarter decreased 4.7 percent to $112.3 million from $117.9 million a year earlier.

For the year, revenue increased from $452 million in 2007 to $491 million in 2008. FFE went from a $7.7 million loss in 2007 to a $605,000 profit in 2008.

“Despite the economic downturn and challenging freight industry in 2008, I am proud of the management team and its effort to sustain positive operating results by posting a third consecutive quarter of income from operations,” said FFE President and Chief Executive Officer Stoney M. Stubbs, Jr.

“Going into 2008, the direct focus of the management team was to execute to an aggressive turnaround plan aimed at restoring our business to profitability and the team delivered on that goal.”

One such strategy was to increase sales in our specialized freight services and FFE’s non-asset based intermodal business. For the full year of 2008, intermodal revenue increased 157.6 percent while dedicated services revenue increased by 37.8 percent.