Marten Transport, Ltd. (MRTN) has reported a 5.54 percent fall in profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2016. The company has earned $8.30 million, or $0.25 a share in the quarter, compared with $8.79 million, or $0.26 a share for the same period last year.
Revenue during the quarter went up marginally by 2.30 percent to $172.66 million from $168.77 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 87 basis points over the previous year period to 77.46 percent. Total expenses were 91.58 percent of quarterly revenues, up from 90.97 percent for the same period last year. That has resulted in a contraction of 61 basis points in operating margin to 8.42 percent.
Operating income for the quarter was $14.53 million, compared with $15.24 million in the previous year period.
Chairman and chief executive officer Randolph L. Marten said, "Despite persistent softness in the freight market, which has challenged our truckload segment, we have continued to demonstrate the strength of our unique multifaceted business model by achieving our eighth consecutive year-over-year increase in quarterly operating income within each of our dedicated, intermodal and brokerage segments. We increased our average number of truckload and dedicated tractors by 226 tractors, or 9.1%, in 2016 over 2015 with the expansion of our dedicated operations. We remain confident in our ability to profitably capitalize on growth opportunities across all of our business units with our competitive position, cost control emphasis, modern fleet and strong balance sheet."
Operating cash flow improves marginally
Marten Transport, Ltd. has generated cash of $133.57 million from operating activities during the year, up 4.15 percent or $5.33 million, when compared with the last year.
The company has spent $97.29 million cash to meet investing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $125.08 million in the last year.
The company has spent $36.22 million cash to carry out financing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $2.85 million in the last year period.
Working capital drops significantly
Marten Transport, Ltd. has witnessed a decline in the working capital over the last year. It stood at $32.76 million as at Dec. 31, 2016, down 34.71 percent or $17.41 million from $50.17 million on Dec. 31, 2015. Current ratio was at 1.54 as on Dec. 31, 2016, down from 2.01 on Dec. 31, 2015.
Debt comes down significantly
Marten Transport, Ltd. has recorded a decline in total debt over the last one year. It stood at $7.89 million as on Dec. 31, 2016, down 79.17 percent or $29.98 million from $37.87 million on Dec. 31, 2015. Total debt was 1.21 percent of total assets as on Dec. 31, 2016, compared with 6 percent on Dec. 31, 2015. Debt to equity ratio was at 0.02 as on Dec. 31, 2016, down from 0.09 as on Dec. 31, 2015.
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