Universal Logistics Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULH) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call February 16, 2024 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Tim Phillips - Chief Executive Officer

Jude Beres - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Bruce Chan - Stifel

Operator

Hello, and welcome to Universal Logistics Holdings Fourth Quarter 2023 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's 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.

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.

Tim Phillips

Thank you, Gary, and good morning, and welcome to Universal Logistics Holdings 2023 fourth quarter earnings call.

Once again, Universal's diverse service offerings continue to differentiate us in the transportation and logistics space and provide a stable earnings base for the organization in a changing trade environment. While we await a rebound in the transportation market that has been bumping along the bottom in the past few quarters, we are pleased with the continued resiliency and performance of our contract logistics segment.

Being deeply rooted in our customers' ecosystem has given us the opportunity to inject additional value, consistency and visibility into their supply chain, which in turn demonstrates our strong business proposition and affords us tremendous opportunity for growth. In 2024, it remains our goal to streamline operations within our transportation segment, focusing on cost reductions, which extend additional value to our customers while continuing to produce consistent margins that fuel our future growth.

We continue to see excellent opportunities in the contract logistics space to simplify customers' logistics complexities while simultaneously showcasing cost savings and reliability. Our people-driven solutions require great talent armed with state-of-the-art technology. I'm extremely pleased with our build-out of the contract logistics team with excellent talent that is focused on continuous improvement in labor management, as well as blueprinting the technological needs of our customers to advance our accuracy, enhanced visibility. We continue to stress a customer-centric approach that takes best practice while outlining a very individualized solution to our customers' specific needs.