Universal Logistics Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULH) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call February 10, 2023 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Tim Phillips - CEO and Director on the Board of Directors

Jude Beres - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Chris Wetherbee - Citigroup

Operator

Hello, and welcome to Universal Logistics Holdings’ Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions]. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation.

During the course of this call management may make forward-looking statements based on their best view of the business as seen today. Statements that are forward-looking relate to Universal business objectives or expectations and can be identified by the use of the words such as believe, expect, anticipate and project. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and actual results could differ materially from those expectations. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded today.

It is now my pleasure to introduce your host Mr. Tim Phillips, Chief Executive Officer; Mr. Jude Beres, Chief Financial Officer and Mr. Steven Fitzpatrick, Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. Thank you. Mr. Phillips, you may begin the call.

Tim Phillips

Thank you, Joe. Welcome to Universal Logistics Holdings 2022 fourth quarter earnings call. I'd like to take a minute and reflect on Universal’s performance for the full year of 2022. I'm extremely proud of all our employees, agents, drivers, and contractors who helped achieve such remarkable results. How far we have come since the onset of the pandemic almost three years ago, the Universal team executed on their commitment to excellence, focusing on training, quality of service and transparent collaboration. We all worked extremely hard to record top line revenue in excess of $2 billion, which was a 15% increase over 2021 and more than doubled our operating income and earnings per share. For the full year 2022, Universal reported record operating income of $240.4 million, and $6.37 per basic and diluted share. In 2022, we made great strides not only in our financial performance, but also on an ongoing cultivation of associates in the warehouse, office and on the road. We continue to add and train new associates as we expand our business footprint, which unfolded in a tight labor market. The financial improvement is a credit to every associate willingness and effort to execute at the highest level.

We've added train talent to a number of locations to further expand our foundation set course for continued performance and growth in 2023. As we close out 2022, Universal’s transportation sector was not insulated from a lack luster peak season brought about by high inflation and inventory destocking. Our Intermodal group experienced rapidly declining import volumes. And our Brokerage group saw the number of tendered loads declined throughout the quarter. Our Truckload group held their own by retaining pricing and elevated fuel surcharge levels. While we saw a year-over-year deterioration in our transactional transportation sector, our contract logistics segment which includes dedicated transportation, and value-added services expanded top line revenue and operating margin because of our diversified service offerings, Universal proudly printed its best fourth quarter operating income and EPS in company history.