A bon news, bad news story

TORONTO — If anybody working for Canada’s largest trucking company wants some quality family time over the next little while, they’re welcome to it.

Offering unpaid breaks is one of the strategies Montreal-based TransForce will be using to keep the recessionary bear from the door, President, CEO and Board Chairman Alain Bedard said a the company’s annual meeting, held at the TSX on Friday afternoon.

The corporation also froze salaries and instituted a hiring freeze in 2008. TransForce has about 15,000 employees.

Restating the recurring theme that’s played at annual meetings in the transport industry around the world, Bedard told his shareholders that first quarter revenues for 2009 were down 14 percent compared to this time last year, dropping from $526.3 million to $452.4.

Still, despite the losses, the company turned a profit and margins overall remain at "near historic levels," largely because of management’s cost-reduction strategy.

"We have taken action to further reduce equipment and staffing costs in the face of an economic turndown that was deeper and more sudden than expected."

The slowdown affected three of TransForce’s segments in the first quarter. Only the package and courier segment, which comprises about 13 percent of the company’s overall operations, performed well, matching last year’s revenues.

"We are managing through this period and are working to remain as profitable as possible and to position our businesses to participate fully in the inevitable recovery."

Despite the off quarter, Bedard reported earnings before taxes in 2008 were 99.2 million, up from $48.4 million in 2007. EBITDA rose 15 percent to $280 million from $243 million in 2007.

Last year also saw TransForce reorganize from income-trust to corporate status; and for the most part it’s paid off, says Bedard.

"We are proud of our accomplishments and our financial results for 2008," Bedard said. "They are evidence of the skills we have developed in managing through difficult times."