Latest news with #Leathers
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gardiners Group expands Europe presence with Dubois acquisition
The Dubois acquisition announcement was made by Gardiner Bros & Co (Leathers) on its official LinkedIn account. The group also operates Footsure Western, a company specialising in safety footwear. Dubois, headquartered in Brussels, is a family-owned business now in its third generation. It serves as the official distributor for a range of footwear and apparel brands. Launched by Jean Dubois in 1951, the company has represented brands such as Sebago, CAT Footwear, Aigle, Dickies, Gant and Berghen. According to media reports, Dubois will incorporate additional brands into its offerings, including Hard Yakka, Timberland Pro, Base London, and Amblers Safety. Gardiner Bros & Co (Leathers) CEO James Gardiner said: 'This new chapter in our international growth journey is an incredibly exciting milestone. Expanding into the European market alongside a trusted partner like Dubois significantly strengthens our position as the go-to supplier that unites trusted brands and retailers. 'We're bringing together two highly complementary businesses grounded with deep consumer understanding and shared values. At the core of our partnership is our mutual dedication to fostering authentic long-term relationships with our customers and a shared ambition to place sustainability and ethical practices at the forefront of our mission.' Gardiners' product range includes over 5,000 lines and operates a storage facility spanning 230,000ft2. The company claims to hold exclusive distribution rights for several global brands throughout the UK and Northern Ireland. Dubois CEO Jean-Jacques Vankeerberghen said: "The acquisition of Dubois by the Gardiners Group is a fantastic opportunity for the company to grow its business with existing and new brands in Benelux and the whole of Europe. The shared values are important to me as we progress the integration of the two historical family businesses." Recently, Gardiner Bros partnered with brand development and licensing platform Authentic Brands Group (ABG) to reintroduce the Sperry brand to the UK and Ireland. "Gardiners Group expands Europe presence with Dubois acquisition" was originally created and published by Just Style, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Top 5 Analyst Questions From Werner's Q1 Earnings Call
Werner's first quarter results were met with a negative market reaction, driven by a combination of elevated insurance claims, disruptive weather, and increased technology investment that weighed on profitability. CEO Derek Leathers was candid about the company's underperformance, citing a significant insurance verdict and weather-related disruptions as key drivers of the loss. Leathers stated, 'Our first quarter results did not meet our expectations,' and highlighted that adverse insurance outcomes, including a single large verdict, had a meaningful impact. Management also pointed to higher IT spending and isolated operating inefficiencies as compounding factors. Is now the time to buy WERN? Find out in our full research report (it's free). Revenue: $712.1 million vs analyst estimates of $737.2 million (7.4% year-on-year decline, 3.4% miss) Adjusted EPS: -$0.12 vs analyst estimates of $0.12 (significant miss) Adjusted EBITDA: $65.73 million vs analyst estimates of $89.32 million (9.2% margin, 26.4% miss) Operating Margin: -0.8%, down from 2% in the same quarter last year Market Capitalization: $1.7 billion While we enjoy listening to the management's commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls are the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention. Jason Seidl (TD Cowen) asked about the margin dynamics between dedicated and One-Way divisions. CEO Derek Leathers clarified that dedicated margins outperformed One-Way, which remained under pressure, and that new dedicated wins should be margin accretive as they ramp up. Ari Rosa (Citigroup) pressed on structural changes to address insurance cost volatility. Leathers acknowledged the unpredictability, emphasizing ongoing focus on safety and legislative advocacy but conceding that outsized verdicts remain a material industry risk. Scott Group (Wolfe Research) questioned whether recent M&A activity contributed to the operating loss. Leathers responded that acquisitions occurred before the freight downturn and have yet to deliver full operating leverage, but customer growth remains positive within acquired businesses. Bascome Majors (Susquehanna) inquired about the effects of tariff uncertainty on retailer customer discussions and bid season. Management noted that retail customers are seeking execution certainty, with more business shifting from spot to contract, and that bid outcomes and actual volumes are tracking more closely this year. Chris Wetherbee (Wells Fargo) sought clarity on the timeline and financial benefits of the EDGE TMS technology rollout. Leathers stated that full productivity gains are expected to materialize late Q3 into Q4, with logistics operations already seeing some improvement. In the coming quarters, the StockStory team will be monitoring (1) the successful onboarding and performance of newly awarded dedicated fleet contracts, (2) progress toward achieving the increased cost savings target and the resulting impact on margins, and (3) the pace and effectiveness of the EDGE TMS technology rollout across all business lines. Developments in tariff policy and insurance claim trends will also be important external factors to watch. Werner currently trades at $27.55, in line with $27.66 just before the earnings. Is the company at an inflection point that warrants a buy or sell? The answer lies in our full research report (it's free). The market surged in 2024 and reached record highs after Donald Trump's presidential victory in November, but questions about new economic policies are adding much uncertainty for 2025. While the crowd speculates what might happen next, we're homing in on the companies that can succeed regardless of the political or macroeconomic environment. Put yourself in the driver's seat and build a durable portfolio by checking out our Top 5 Strong Momentum Stocks for this week. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025). Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Comfort Systems (+782% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ocean carriers blank sailings as bookings drop
Ocean rejection rates spike as bookings fall (Chart: SONAR Container Atlas) Much of the focus the past several days has been on the drop in ocean bookings from China to the U.S., and with good reason. The SONAR Ocean Booking Volume Index from China to the U.S. is now down about 50% year over year, roughly in line with the reported average from ocean carriers and other data sources. A FreightWaves article published last week goes into detail. (Chart: SONAR Container Atlas) A related dataset that has moved sharply in recent days is the Ocean TEU Rejection Index from China to the U.S. It's now up over 20%, which only has historical precedent during the early days of COVID and the rush surrounding major Chinese holidays. To mitigate the impact that falling demand will have on rates, carriers are employing a range of tactics including deploying smaller vessels, blanking sailings and suspending entire service loops (regular routings that call on a set sequence of ports). In fact, according to Flexport, ocean carriers are reducing capacity from China to the U.S. at a rate faster than the early days of COVID. Summer goods are already on shelves or in warehouses, but the sharp reduction in capacity presents risks to goods availability in the fall. Those strategies are helping to keep container rates relatively stable. Transportation earnings season has largely been a flurry of cuts to expectations Here is a sample of the earnings writeups on Tariffs trim Schneider National's 2025 growth expectations Losses continue to mount at Heartland Express Werner CEO Leathers confronts losses, outlines plans to bounce back New decline on weak earnings delivers fresh pain to Wabash stock UPS to eliminate 20k jobs as Amazon decoupling accelerates Tender rejection rates depressed in many multimodal hub cities The Long-haul outbound tender rejection rate is shown for Los Angeles (yellow), Newark, New Jersey, (green), Chicago (red), Atlanta (peach) and the U.S. as a whole (white). (Chart: SONAR) Domestic intermodal companies and Class I railroads have recently described how the competitiveness with truckload is keeping a lid on intermodal rates despite intermodal volume that grew in the mid-single digits in the first quarter. Looking at long-haul tender rejection rates, which limits the datasets to lengths of haul exceeding 800 miles to exclude many noncompetitive loads is one way to monitor the competitive dynamic between truckload and intermodal. Average long-haul tender rejection rates typically exceed rejection rates for other lengths of haul, as they do currently. (The national long-haul tender rejection rate is 5.55% versus a national tender rejection rate of 4.95% for all lengths of haul.) What also stands out is that long-haul tender rejection rates are significantly below the national tender rejection rate for many locations that serve as major intermodal hubs. Most notable is the depressed long-haul Los Angeles and Atlanta outbound tender rejection rates of just 2.5% and 2.9%, respectively. Those rates suggest that carriers are accepting nearly all loads available on the contract market and imply that shippers may be able to move freight at lower rates on the truckload spot market. One example is the Atlanta-to-Chicago lane – SONAR Market Dashboard shows a highway spot rate of just $1.35 per mile, well below the highway contract rate of $2.29 and even below the intermodal contract rate in SONAR of $1.48. (All rates include fuel surcharges.) The Stockout on final mile at Werner (Image: FWTV) On Monday's The Stockout, FreightWaves' retail and CPG show, Grace Sharkey and I discussed the impacts of tariffs and Sharkey interviewed Meg Meurer, vice president of dedicated and final-mile sales at Werner Enterprises. As Meurer explained, Werner has built an extensive training program to ensure that final-mile customers are getting white-glove treatment, whether that involves the delivery of furniture or appliances at a residence or specialized equipment at a hospital or auto assembly plant. Staff is trained on installation, assembly and disassembly. The training involves role-playing and ride-alongs to help drivers deal with unique situations, which could include an unruly dog or a customer with show can be viewed on The Stockout YouTube channel. To subscribe to The Stockout, FreightWaves' CPG and retail newsletter, click here. The post Ocean carriers blank sailings as bookings drop appeared first on FreightWaves. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CEO Leathers says Werner ‘acting decisively' after red-ink quarter
Coming off a quarter with not just a net loss but an operating deficit as well, Werner Enterprises CEO Derek Leathers tackled a performance that he said 'clearly did not meet our expectations.' 'We faced several challenges during the quarter, some industry-wise, some specific to Werner, but we are acting decisively to address them,' he said. In post-market trade, Werner (NASDAQ: WERN) stock was down as much as 5%, and it's down about 25% in the past three months. A summary of the company's key earnings metrics can be found here. Here are five takeaways from Werner's first-quarter earnings call. Asked by analyst Scott Group whether the operating loss for Werner was a first – Group, a longtime follower of Werner, said he could not recall another – Leathers said that 'the quarter is in fact an outlier. So your model is correct.' 'We are taking this seriously,' Leathers said. 'This does not represent who we are, and we are going to make appropriate near-term moves, but always with an eye toward the reality of 'this too shall change.'' One positive on the financial side: Werner recently closed a deal for a $300 million receivables-backed credit line. Given that, Leathers said, 'we are well-positioned to be opportunistic relative to share repurchases and M&A.' He said liquidity at Werner is 'at a high point.' Leathers, in a discussion about the impact of tariffs on Werner's business, described what he called 'this sort of air pocket that's been largely talked about over the last several days.' He was referring to the reduction in inbound oceangoing freight from ports in Asia. 'That air pocket will have to be filled to some extent,' Leathers said, with other freight movement to substitute for demand that might be expected to slide as a result of that falloff in imports. He said Werner customers have been telling him their inventory levels 'are in good shape,' so there won't be a rescue from those customers needing to increase their freight demand. 'We'll be ready to respond regardless of which direction that demand side of the equation goes,' Leathers said. At Werner, Leathers said the company sees three separate areas of impact. One is on its own capital expenditures. The second is its exposure to Mexico, a significant part of the Werner business. The third is the macroeconomic impact that all companies will need to deal with. Internally, like any trucking company, Werner faces the prospect of higher equipment costs as it rolls over its fleet. 'We will continue to invest in trucks, trailers, technology and talent, while maintaining optionality when it comes to evaluating the impact from tariffs on our equipment costs,' Leathers said in his opening remarks. He added that the average age of the Werner fleet is 2.2 years. Leathers said most Mexican business for Werner is in the One Way segment, but he expressed no concerns for that activity. 'We have developed strong partnerships with customers and partner carriers as one of the largest transportation providers in the U.S. with a strong presence in Mexico,' which he said is a 'competitive advantage.' Mexico represents about 10% of Werner's business, according to Leathers. As far as the macro impact, Leathers said that so far, even in a quarter in which the company lost money, 'the consumer has remained engaged and resilient.' Werner's longtime role as a key carrier for discount retailers has held up strongly in past economic downturns, Leathers said. Leathers said it was 'a misnomer that we constantly hear about' that margins in Werner's Dedicated segment are 'some sort of drag as this market progresses further from here.' Noting that the company has 'studied this pretty closely,' he said that 'if you look back over the last 10 years, about eight out of 10 years, Dedicated does outperform our One Way margins,' referring to the other major transport part of the company's Truckload Transportation Services segment. He noted that Werner does not disclose specific margins within its subdivisions but that the margins in Dedicated 'stand up very well in both good markets and bad.' The Dedicated segment also has had several recent wins in securing new business, Leather said. The wins in what Leathers said was 'a competitive environment right now' will immediately boost operating margin in the Dedicated segment. They have not yet begun so there was no impact to the company's first-quarter earnings report, he said. Some of the new deals may not show up until the third quarter, Leathers added, but otherwise will be part of the company's second-quarter results. 'The win rate will continue to be pressured based on the competitive environment we're in,' Leathers said. 'But we like the momentum.' Werner posted insurance costs of more than $40 million. What Leathers called 'elevated insurance costs and claims' had an impact on earnings per share of 9 cents, with 8 cents of that coming from a nuclear verdict late in the quarter. Insurance costs in the first quarter of 2025 were $43.8 million. A year ago, they were $36.4 million. A spokeswoman for Werner told FreightWaves the judgment referred to by Leathers was from a 2019 accident in Louisiana, with the decision handed down in the quarter. With interest, the judgement was approximately $7 million, she said. It is a separate case from the now more than $100 million nuclear verdict Werner was hit with in 2018 in Texas that is now sitting before the Texas Supreme Court. (Oral arguments were in December, and a verdict could come any day … or in weeks or months.) Responding to an analyst question about the executive order signed by President Donald Trump requiring English proficiency to drive a truck, Leathers noted that Werner tests for English proficiency, 'so we're in great shape.' But he added that he doesn't see any sudden changes in the market as a result of the executive order, noting that the rule has long been in place. But it also had guidance going back to the Obama administration not to be enforced. 'It's difficult to change enforcement overnight at roadside levels,' Leathers said. 'It's harder than people think. But if you tie it back to the core reason why that regulation exists, which was safety, then we certainly support the principle behind the original regulation.' And that principle, he added, was that 'drivers need to be able to communicate with first responders at the scene of an accident.' As to what the rule would mean 'tomorrow,' Leathers said, 'it would be inappropriate for me to guess.' Enforcement levels may vary around the country, according to Leathers. But whether 'you have three loads stopped somewhere in the country, or you've got 30, you still have freight not moving if a driver was to be put out of service.' A 'decent percentage' of drivers cannot speak English, Leathers said. He suggested the industry seems to believe that number is 10% to 15%, but 'that doesn't mean that much capacity leaves tomorrow because of all the enforcement issues I've described.' More articles by John Kingston A market on the precipice: 5 takeaways from the April State of Freight TFI's Bedard upbeat on revamped US LTL operations even as numbers sink 2 more charged in death of Louisiana staged truck accident witness The post CEO Leathers says Werner 'acting decisively' after red-ink quarter appeared first on FreightWaves. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Werner optimistic after tough Q4
Management from Werner Enterprises noted some green shoots on a Thursday quarterly call but the period was marred by unfavorable claims developments. Werner (NASDAQ: WERN) reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 8 cents after the market closed, 14 cents below the consensus estimate and 31 cents lower year over year. The number included a $19 million hit, or 22 cents per share, from unfavorable changes in liability claims. The company said the 'unprecedented rise in verdicts and litigation settlements' came despite operating at 'near 20-year record lows in U.S. Department of Transportation preventable accidents per million miles.' Werner has made significant investments in collision-avoidance technology and has numerous safety initiatives in place but one claim erases those efforts. 'You can have a phenomenal year and even have, on the handful of claims, really good facts [surrounding the case], and it doesn't necessarily always lead to a good outcome,' said Chairman and CEO Derek Leathers on the call. He noted progress on tort reform in some states but said the industry still has a long road ahead to fix its insurance issues. 'We're seeing ongoing progress being made at state levels where we're getting some rationality into the room relative to how liability should be treated so some day we don't wake up with $35-a-dozen eggs,' Leathers said. Looking past the insurance headwinds, he called out some green shoots in the truckload market like an increase in tender rejections and the move off the bottom for spot rates. He said unlike the past two years, external impacts like winter storms now cause a reaction to rejections and rates. The company is seeing low- to mid-single-digit rate increases so far in the one-way TL bid season. The adjusted EPS result excluded nonrecurring items like acquisition-related expenses, costs from an insurance claim that was appealed and gains from equity investments. Gains on the sale of equipment, which are included in the number, were down 55% y/y to $1.4 million. (Lower gains on sale were a 2-cent headwind at a normalized tax rate.) Revenue in the TL segment declined 9% y/y to $527 million. Average trucks in service declined by a high-single-digit percentage in both the dedicated and one-way fleets. That was partially offset by a 5.1% increase in revenue per truck per week (excluding fuel surcharges) in one-way and a 1.1% increase to the metric in dedicated. The TL unit reported a 96.9% adjusted operating ratio (inverse of operating margin), 440 basis points worse y/y. The jump in insurance expense was a nearly 400-bp margin headwind for the segment during the quarter. The company is forecasting revenue per truck per week at the dedicated fleet to be flat to up 3% y/y for full-year 2025. One-way revenue per total mile is expected to increase by 1% to 4% in the first half of the year. The logistics unit reported a 6% y/y revenue decline to $213 million and a small operating profit. The adjusted operating margin was 1.1%, 20 bps worse y/y. This was the best quarter for the segment in 2024. Werner outlined an additional $25 million in cost savings for 2025 to go along with the $100 million savings run rate achieved over the past two years. First-quarter adjusted EPS is expected to be roughly in line with the 14 cents earned in the 2024 first quarter, which was 3 cents light of the consensus estimate at the time of the print. More FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden: XPO shares up on strong Q4 financial performance Old Dominion poised to take share when market turns Pricing index logs fastest growth rate since freight recession began The post Werner optimistic after tough Q4 appeared first on FreightWaves. Sign in to access your portfolio
