C.H. Robinson Reports 2024 First Quarter Results

C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. ("C.H. Robinson") (NASDAQ:CHRW) today reported financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2024.

First Quarter Key Metrics:

• Gross profits decreased 4.5% year-over-year to $647.5 million, but increased 6.3% sequentially
• Income from operations decreased 21.1% year-over-year to $127.1 million, but increased 18.3% sequentially
• Adjusted operating margin⁽¹⁾ decreased 420 basis points to 19.3%
• Diluted earnings per share (EPS) decreased 18.8% to $0.78
• Adjusted EPS⁽¹⁾ decreased 14.0% year-over-year to $0.86, but increased 72% sequentially
• Cash from operations decreased by $287.9 million to $33.3 million used by operations

"Our first quarter results and adjusted earnings per share of $0.86 reflects a change in our execution and discipline, as we began implementing a new Lean-based operating model. And although we continue to battle through an elongated freight recession with an oversupply of capacity, I'm optimistic about our ability to continue improving our execution regardless of the market environment," said C.H. Robinson's President and Chief Executive Officer, Dave Bozeman. "Our new operating model is being deployed at the enterprise, divisional and shared service levels and is evolving our execution and accountability by bringing more structure to our continuous improvement cadence and culture. This new way of operating is starting to enable greater discipline, transparency, urgency and consistency in our decision making, based on data and input metrics that can reliably lead to better outputs. It's also setting the tone of how we operate and hold ourselves accountable, helping us make systemic improvements, build operational muscle and drive value at speed. We began to see the benefits of our new operating model in our first quarter execution."

"As a result of disciplined pricing and capacity procurement efforts, we executed better across our contractual and transactional portfolios in our NAST business, and in particular, in our truckload business in the first quarter. This resulted in improved optimization of volume and adjusted gross profit per truckload, which improved sequentially despite an increase in our linehaul cost per mile for the full quarter versus the fourth quarter of 2023. Additionally, our first quarter truckload volume reflects growing market share, and we outpaced the market indices for the third quarter in a row," added Bozeman.

"In what continues to be a difficult environment, our resilient team of freight experts is responding to the challenge and embracing the new operating model and the innovative tools that we continue to arm them with. Our people have a powerful desire to win, and I thank them for their tireless efforts. They continue to be a differentiator for us and for our customers and carriers, and I'm confident in the team's willingness and ability to drive a higher level of discipline in our operational execution. We're moving in the right direction, and at the same time, everyone understands that we have more work to do," Bozeman concluded.

Summary of First Quarter of 2024 Results Compared to the First Quarter of 2023

• Total revenues decreased 4.3% to $4.4 billion, primarily driven by lower pricing in our truckload services, partially offset by higher pricing and increased volume in our ocean services.
• Gross profits decreased 4.5% to $647.5 million. Adjusted gross profits decreased 4.1% to $657.7 million, primarily driven by lower adjusted gross profit per transaction in truckload.
• Operating expenses increased 1.1% to $530.6 million. Personnel expenses decreased 1.0% to $379.1 million, primarily due to cost optimization efforts and partially offset by higher restructuring charges related to workforce reductions. Average headcount declined 11.3%. Other selling, general and administrative ("SG&A") expenses increased 7.1% to $151.5 million, primarily due to favorable credit losses in the prior year and restructuring charges in the current year related to the impairment of internally developed software.
• Income from operations totaled $127.1 million, down 21.1% due to the decrease in adjusted gross profits. Adjusted operating margin⁽¹⁾ of 19.3% declined 420 basis points.
• Interest and other income/expense, net totaled $16.8 million of expense, consisting primarily of $22.1 million of interest expense, which decreased $1.5 million versus last year, due to a lower average debt balance, and a $3.9 million net gain from foreign currency revaluation and realized foreign currency gains and losses.
• The effective tax rate in the quarter was 15.8%, compared to 13.5% in the first quarter last year. The higher rate in the first quarter of this year was driven by lower tax benefits related to stock-based compensation deliveries and higher foreign taxes, partially offset by higher U.S. tax credits and the impact of lower pretax income.
• Net income totaled $92.9 million, down 19.1% from a year ago. Diluted EPS of $0.78 decreased 18.8%. Adjusted EPS⁽¹⁾ of $0.86 decreased 14.0%.

North American Surface Transportation ("NAST") Results

Summarized financial results of our NAST segment are as follows (dollars in thousands):

First quarter total revenues for the NAST segment totaled $3.0 billion, a decrease of 9.2% over the prior year, primarily driven by lower truckload pricing, reflecting an oversupply of truckload capacity compared to freight demand. NAST adjusted gross profits decreased 6.9% in the quarter to $397.1 million. Adjusted gross profits in truckload decreased 9.9% due to a 9.5% decrease in adjusted gross profit per shipment and a 0.5% decline in truckload shipments. Our average truckload linehaul rate per mile charged to our customers, which excludes fuel surcharges, decreased approximately 7.5% in the quarter compared to the prior year, while truckload linehaul cost per mile, excluding fuel surcharges, also decreased approximately 7.5%, resulting in an 8.5% decrease in truckload adjusted gross profit per mile. LTL adjusted gross profits increased 1.7% versus the year-ago period, driven by a 3.0% increase in LTL volume, partially offset by a 1.0% decrease in adjusted gross profit per order. NAST overall volume growth increased 1.5% for the quarter. Operating expenses decreased 1.5%, primarily due to lower technology expenses which were partially offset by a benefit in the prior year from lower credit losses. NAST average employee headcount was down 12.6% in the quarter. Income from operations decreased 18.7% to $108.9 million, and adjusted operating margin declined 400 basis points to 27.4%.

Global Forwarding Results

Summarized financial results of our Global Forwarding segment are as follows (dollars in thousands):

First quarter total revenues for the Global Forwarding segment increased 8.7% to $858.6 million, primarily driven by higher pricing and increased volume in our ocean services. Adjusted gross profits increased 1.2% in the quarter to $180.0 million. Ocean adjusted gross profits increased 2.5%, driven by a 7.0% increase in shipments, partially offset by a 4.0% decrease in adjusted gross profit per shipment. Air adjusted gross profits decreased 2.4%, driven by a 20.5% decrease in adjusted gross profit per metric ton shipped, partially offset by a 23.0% increase in metric tons shipped. Customs adjusted gross profits increased 11.8%, driven by an 8.5% increase in transaction volume and a 3.5% increase in adjusted gross profit per transaction. Operating expenses increased 0.5%, primarily due to higher variable compensation. First quarter average employee headcount decreased 10.9%. Income from operations increased 4.8% to $31.6 million, and adjusted operating margin expanded 60 basis points to 17.5% in the quarter.

All Other and Corporate Results

Total revenues and adjusted gross profits for Robinson Fresh, Managed Services and Other Surface Transportation are summarized as follows (dollars in thousands):

First quarter Robinson Fresh adjusted gross profits increased 8.3% to $33.7 million due to a 1.5% increase in case volume and integrated supply chain solutions for retail customers. Managed Services adjusted gross profits decreased 0.1%. Other Surface Transportation adjusted gross profits decreased 14.6% to $17.9 million, primarily due to a 16.9% decrease in Europe truckload adjusted gross profits.

Other Income Statement Items

The first quarter effective tax rate was 15.8%, up from 13.5% last year. The higher rate in the first quarter of this year was driven by lower tax benefits related to stock-based compensation deliveries and higher foreign taxes, partially offset by higher U.S. tax credits and the impact of lower pretax income. For 2024, we expect our full-year effective tax rate to be 17% to 19%.

Interest and other income/expense, net totaled $16.8 million of expense, consisting primarily of $22.1 million of interest expense, which decreased $1.5 million versus the first quarter of 2023 due to a lower average debt balance, and a $3.9 million net gain from foreign currency revaluation and realized foreign currency gains and losses.

Diluted weighted average shares outstanding in the quarter were down 0.3% due to lower dilutive impact of equity awards.

Cash Flow Generation and Capital Distribution

Cash used by operations totaled $33.3 million in the first quarter, compared to $254.5 million of cash generated from operations in the first quarter of 2023. The $287.9 million decrease in cash flow from operations was primarily related to a $369.5 million decline in cash provided by changes in net operating working capital, due to a $134.6 million sequential increase in net operating working capital in the first quarter of 2024 compared to a $234.9 million sequential decrease in the first quarter of 2023.

In the first quarter of 2024, cash returned to shareholders totaled $90.7 million, with $74.6 million in cash dividends and $16.1 million in repurchases of common stock.

Capital expenditures totaled $22.5 million in the quarter. Capital expenditures for 2024 are expected to be $85 million to $95 million.

About C.H. Robinson

C.H. Robinson solves logistics problems for companies across the globe and across industries, from the simple to the most complex. With $22 billion in freight under management and 19 million shipments annually, we are one of the world's largest logistics platforms. Our global suite of services accelerates trade to seamlessly deliver the products and goods that drive the world's economy. With the combination of our multimodal transportation management system and expertise, we use our information advantage to deliver smarter solutions for our more than 90,000 customers and the more than 450,000 contract carriers on our platform. Our technology is built by and for supply chain experts to bring faster, more meaningful improvements to our customers' businesses. As a responsible global citizen, we are also proud to contribute millions of dollars to support causes that matter to our company, our Foundation and our employees. For more information, visit us at www.chrobinson.com (NASDAQ:CHRW).

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this release are forward-looking statements that represent our expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies concerning future events. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our historical experience or our present expectations, including, but not limited to, factors such as changes in economic conditions, including uncertain consumer demand; changes in market demand and pressures on the pricing for our services; fuel price increases or decreases, or fuel shortages; competition and growth rates within the global logistics industry that could adversely impact our profitability; freight levels and increasing costs and availability of truck capacity or alternative means of transporting freight; risks associated with seasonal changes or significant disruptions in the transportation industry; risks associated with identifying and completing suitable acquisitions; our dependence on and changes in relationships with existing contracted truck, rail, ocean, and air carriers; risks associated with the loss of significant customers; risks associated with reliance on technology to operate our business; cyber-security related risks; our ability to staff and retain employees; risks associated with operations outside of the U.S.; our ability to successfully integrate the operations of acquired companies with our historic operations; climate change related risks; risks associated with our indebtedness; risks associated with interest rates; risks associated with litigation, including contingent auto liability and insurance coverage; risks associated with the potential impact of changes in government regulations including environmental-related regulations; risks associated with the changes to income tax regulations; risks associated with the produce industry, including food safety and contamination issues; the impact of changes in political and governmental conditions; changes to our capital structure; changes due to catastrophic events; risks associated with the usage of artificial intelligence technologies; and other risks and uncertainties detailed in our Annual and Quarterly Reports.

Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and we undertake no obligation to update such statement to reflect events or circumstances arising after such date. All remarks made during our financial results conference call will be current at the time of the call, and we undertake no obligation to update the replay.

Conference Call Information:

C.H. Robinson Worldwide First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call

Wednesday, May 1, 2024; 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Presentation slides and a simultaneous live audio webcast of the conference call may be accessed through the Investor Relations link on C.H. Robinson's website at www.chrobinson.com.

To participate in the conference call by telephone, please call ten minutes early by dialing: 877-269-7756

International callers dial +1-201-689-7817

CHRW-IR

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