XPO Announces Financial Results for Second Quarter 2024

August 1, 2024  by Karen Parrish in Business Strategy, Industry   

Mario Harik, chief executive officer of XPO, said, “We reported a strong second quarter of earnings growth, underpinned by a year-over-year increase in revenue of 9%. Companywide, we grew adjusted EBITDA by 41% and adjusted diluted EPS by 58%.

“In North American LTL, we continued to deliver service at record levels, with the best damage claims ratio in our history at 0.2%. This helped drive above-market yield growth, ex-fuel, of 9%, and a 3.4% increase in tonnage per day, with 4.5% more shipments per day. We also operated more cost efficiently, reducing purchased transportation and increasing labor productivity. As a result, we reported a 51% increase in adjusted operating income and improved our adjusted operating ratio by 440 basis points to 83.2%. In addition, we’ve now opened 14 of the 28 service centers we acquired in December, with another 10 expected this year.”

Harik continued, “Our strong performance demonstrates the steady progress we’re making toward becoming the LTL service leader in North America. We’ll continue to build our service offering, invest in capacity ahead of demand and operate more efficiently. This strategy is creating a long runway for future margin expansion.”

Second Quarter Highlights

For the second quarter 2024, the company generated revenue of $2.08 billion, compared with $1.92 billion for the same period in 2023. The year-over-year increase in revenue was due primarily to higher yield and tonnage per day in the North American LTL segment.

Operating income was $197 million for the second quarter, compared with $107 million for the same period in 2023. Net income from continuing operations was $150 million for the second quarter, compared with $31 million for the same period in 2023.

The year-over-year increase in net income from continuing operations includes a one-time tax benefit of $41 million related to the reorganization of the company’s legal entities in the European business. Diluted earnings from continuing operations per share was $1.25 for the second quarter, compared with $0.27 for the same period in 2023.

Adjusted net income from continuing operations, a non-GAAP financial measure, was $135 million for the second quarter, compared with $83 million for the same period in 2023, and excludes the $41 million tax benefit. Adjusted diluted EPS, a non-GAAP financial measure, was $1.12 for the second quarter, compared with $0.71 for the same period in 2023.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“adjusted EBITDA”), a non-GAAP financial measure, was $343 million for the second quarter, compared with $244 million for the same period in 2023.

The company generated $210 million of cash flow from operating activities in the second quarter, and ended the quarter with $250 million of cash and cash equivalents on hand, after $184 million of net capital expenditures.

Results by Business Segment

North American Less-Than-Truckload (LTL): The segment generated revenue of $1.27 billion for the second quarter 2024, compared with $1.14 billion for the same period in 2023. On a year-over-year basis, shipments per day increased 4.5%, tonnage per day increased 3.4%, and yield, excluding fuel, increased 9.0%. Including fuel, yield increased 7.8%.

Operating income was $203 million for the second quarter 2024, compared with $129 million for the same period in 2023. Adjusted operating income, a non-GAAP financial measure, was $214 million for the second quarter, compared with $142 million for the same period in 2023. Adjusted operating ratio, a non-GAAP financial measure, was 83.2%, reflecting a year-over-year improvement of 440 basis points.

Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter 2024 was $297 million, compared with $208 million for the same period in 2023. The year-over-year increase in adjusted EBITDA was due primarily to higher yield, excluding fuel, and an increase in tonnage per day.

European Transportation: The segment generated revenue of $808 million for the second quarter 2024, compared with $781 million for the same period in 2023. Operating income was $10 million for the second quarter, compared with $12 million for the same period in 2023.

Adjusted EBITDA was $49 million for the second quarter 2024, compared with $46 million for the same period in 2023.

Corporate: The segment generated an operating loss of $16 million for the second quarter 2024, compared with a loss of $34 million for the same period in 2023. The year-over-year improvement in operating loss was due primarily to a $6 million reduction in transaction and integration costs and a $4 million reduction in restructuring costs.

Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure, was a loss of $3 million for the second quarter 2024, compared with a loss of $10 million for the same period in 2023, reflecting a year-over-year improvement from the company’s continued rationalization of corporate overhead costs.

Conference Call

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