YRC slowly climbing out of hole; reports narrower loss

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Troubled LTL giant YRC Worldwide‘s quarterly losses continue to shrink and its president insists that "operating momentum" would continue to drive improvements.

While shares of YRC dropped as much as 26 percent, the company reported a second quarter loss of $9.5 million, compared to a net loss of $309 million in the same period last year.

Revenue fell 8.7 percent to $1.12 billion as shipments decreased over 18 percent year-over-year (though, the company says revenue per shipment is up.

While YRC is slowly winning back customers, many shippers left the carrier amid fears of bankruptcy and bargain rates from competitors.

Recovery has been labored as LTL has been slower to improve than truckload, but  Zollars said the company is improving equilibrium between capacity and volume.

Within its national  segment, tons per day and shipments per day were down 18.6 percent from the second quarter of 2009. Revenue per hundredweight and revenue per shipment were up 3.9 percent over the same time period.

YRC Regional saw tons per day rise 4.6 percent over 2009, while shipments per day were down 3.1 percent. Revenue per hundredweight decreased 2.8 percent, and revenue per shipment grew 4.9 percent from the second quarter of 2009.

"With the significant operating momentum we achieved throughout the second quarter and experienced in July, the company is positioned for further growth," YRC Chairman Bill Zollars said in a statement.

He added that the company is still facing stiff headwinds and to relieve its ballooned debt, it needs to continue cutting costs and unloading assets.