News Release

WARREN, Mich., Oct. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Truckload Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: UACL) today reported third quarter 2015 net income of $9.2 million, or $0.32 per basic and diluted share, on total operating revenues of $284.2 million.  This compares to $13.1 million, or $0.44 per basic and diluted share, during third quarter 2014 on total operating revenues of $302.1 million.

Operating revenues from transportation services decreased $18.7 million, or 9.5%, to $178.1 million in the quarter ended September 26, 2015.  The reduction in transportation services revenues includes an $11.0 million decline in separately-identified fuel surcharges and also reflects an 8.0% year-over-year decrease in the number of loads delivered, compared to the quarter ended September 27, 2014.  The decrease in loads was partly offset by a 3.6% increase in average transportation services operating revenues per load, excluding fuel surcharges, due partly to favorable trends in wind energy shipments.

Value-added services revenues decreased a modest 1.1% to $68.4 million in the most recent quarter, due to generally stable operating activity compared to the quarter ended September 27, 2014.  Revenues from intermodal services increased 4.1%, to $37.7 million from $36.2 million in the third quarter of 2014.  The $1.5 million net increase in revenues from intermodal services reflects a $2.2 million, or 6.6% increase in revenues recognized on intermodal drayage services.  For the thirty-nine weeks ended September 26, 2015, our intermodal drayage revenue has increased 11.9%.

Consolidated income from operations decreased 26.5% to $16.9 million, compared to $23.0 million in third quarter 2014.  EBITDA decreased 19.0% to $25.5 million in third quarter 2015, compared to $31.5 million one year earlier.  Operating income as a percentage of total operating revenues and EBITDA margin for the third quarter 2015 are 6.0% and 9.0%.  These profitability metrics compare to 7.6% and 10.4%, respectively, in third quarter 2014.  Prompted by an 8.3% decline in operating revenues in Universal's transportation segment, income from operations in our transportation segment decreased $2.1 million, or 20.6%, to $8.1 million in third quarter 2015 from $10.2 million one year ago.

Income from operations in our logistics segment decreased $3.9 million, or 27.9%, to $10.1 million in the quarter ended September 26, 2015 from $14.0 million one year earlier on comparable aggregate revenue totaling $97.2 million in the third quarter.  Agreed customer contract price changes, program implementation costs, and a reduction in the value of Universal's international income due to a stronger U.S. dollar impacted our consolidated logistics segment income.

Universal's Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Rogers, observed, "Flatbed and heavy haul revenues remain restrained, due to the significant contraction in energy exploration and steel shipments compared to last year.  Wind energy-related moves, where Universal offers unique capabilities, have picked up.  Industrial and automotive dry van load counts reflect somewhat softer demand and summer plant shutdowns, which also impacted our value-added services business in the third quarter.

"Although there are bright spots, I am disappointed with Universal's overall financial performance through the first nine months of the year.  Tough challenges that are confronting several of our key markets have undercut progress toward our long term organic growth objectives.  Nevertheless, we continue to make progress building new customer and agent relationships, enhancing capacity, and improving business processes.  I am confident the team is focused on the right long term objectives."

Universal calculates and reports selected financial metrics in connection with lending arrangements, or to isolate and exclude the impact of non-operating expenses related to our corporate development activities.  These statistics are described in more detail below in the section captioned "Non-GAAP Financial Measures."

As of September 26, 2015, we held cash and cash equivalents totaling $10.2 million and marketable securities totaling $13.4 million.  Outstanding debt totaled $245.9 million and obligations pursuant to capital leases were valued at $2.2 million.  Capital expenditures in third quarter 2015 totaled $4.2 million.

Universal Truckload Services, Inc. also announced today that our Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.07 per share of common stock.  The dividend is payable to shareholders of record at the close of business on November 2, 2015 and is expected to be paid on November 12, 2015.

Conference call:

We invite investors and analysts to our quarterly earnings conference call.  During the call, Jeff Rogers, CEO,  and David Crittenden, CFO, will discuss Universal's third quarter 2015 financial performance, the demand outlook in our key markets, the impact of pricing, fuel surcharges and foreign currency changes on our revenues and profits, and other trends impacting our business.

Quarterly Earnings Conference Call Dial-in Details:

Time:                          10:00 AM EDT 
Date:                           Friday, October 23, 2015
Call Toll Free:             (866) 622-0924
International Dial-in:   +1 (660) 422-4956
Conference ID:            51064393

A replay of the conference will be available beginning two hours after the call through November 19, 2015, by calling (855) 859-2056 (toll free) or +1 (404) 537-3406 (toll) and using conference ID 51064393. The call will also be available on investors.goutsi.com.

About Universal:

Universal Truckload Services, Inc. is a leading asset-light provider of customized transportation and logistics solutions throughout the United States, and in Mexico, Canada and Colombia.  We provide our customers with supply chain solutions that can be scaled to meet their changing demands and volumes.  We offer our customers a broad array of services across their entire supply chain, including transportation, intermodal, and value-added services. 

Forward Looking Statements

Some of the statements contained in this press release might be considered forward-looking statements. These statements identify prospective information. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time and/or management's good faith belief with respect to future events, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in the statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations described. Additional information about the factors that may adversely affect these forward-looking statements is contained in the Company's reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking information except to the extent required by applicable securities laws.

(a)   Excludes operating data from Universal Logistics Solutions International, Inc., in order to improve the relevance of the statistical data related to our brokerage services and improve the comparability to our peer companies. Also excludes final mile delivery and shuttle service loads.

(b)   Average length of haul is computed using loaded miles, excluding final mile delivery and shuttle service loads.

(c)   Excludes storage yards, terminals and office facilities.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to providing consolidated financial statements based on generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (GAAP), we are providing additional financial measures that are not required by or prepared in accordance with GAAP (non-GAAP). We present EBITDA as supplemental measures of our performance. We define EBITDA as net income plus (i) interest expense, net, (ii) provision for income taxes and (iii) depreciation and amortization, and less other non-operating income, or EBITDA. You are encouraged to evaluate these adjustments and the reasons we consider them appropriate for supplemental analysis.

In accordance with the requirements of Regulation G issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission, we are presenting the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure and reconciling the non-GAAP financial measure to the comparable GAAP measure. Set forth below is a reconciliation of net income, the most comparable GAAP measure, to EBITDA for each of the periods indicated:

(a)   EBITDA margin is computed by dividing EBITDA by total operating revenues for each of the periods indicated.

We present EBITDA because we believe it assists investors and analysts in comparing our performance across reporting periods on a consistent basis by excluding items that we do not believe are indicative of our core operating performance.

EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool. Some of these limitations are:

• EBITDA does not reflect our cash expenditures, or future requirements, for capital expenditures or contractual commitments;
• EBITDA does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs;
• EBITDA does not reflect the significant interest expense, or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payments, on our debts;
• Although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized will often have to be replaced in the future, and EBITDA does not reflect any cash requirements for such replacements; and
• Other companies in our industry may calculate EBITDA differently than we do, limiting its usefulness as a comparative measure.

Because of these limitations, EBITDA should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for performance measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. We compensate for these limitations by relying primarily on our GAAP results and EBITDA only supplementally.

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SOURCE Universal Truckload Services, Inc.

David A. Crittenden, Chief Financial Officer, DCrittenden@goutsi.com, (586) 467-1427