TFI International’s revenues grew to $1.96 billion (all figures USD) in the first quarter, but profits slipped to $56 million, down from $92.8 million in the same quarter last year.
“TFI International continues to navigate industrywide freight demand weakness by following long-held core operating principles, including an overarching focus on robust free cash flow as evidenced by a 40% year-over-year increase during the first quarter,” said Alain Bédard, TFI’s chairman, president and CEO in a press release.
“Our strong financial footing enables us to take a strategic approach to cyclicality, making targeted investments while our hardworking team drives operational excellence across the organization. This disciplined focus delivered improved operating ratios across several of our businesses despite the challenging market conditions.”
Speaking to analysts, Bédard noted some segments have felt the impact of the trade war with the U.S.
“When you look at our specialized truckload in North America, we’ve really been affected,” he said. “Because our end customers are sitting on their hands, waiting to see where this is going to go.”
Giving a more granular example of how the trade war is impacting the trucking business, Bédard said, “Think about if you are a U.S. farmer right now. You don’t feel pretty good because your main customer, China, is just saying, ‘We don’t want your product.’ So, one of our customers is industrial-based, manufacturing agricultural equipment. Those guys don’t sell a lot because their customer, the farmer, is insecure right now. They don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s just one small example of what we’re going through right now in our U.S. specialty truckload operation. Customers are just waiting.”
But while mileage in that segment was down 10-15% in Q1, Bédard added it’s beginning to improve. And rates are actually improving, too.
“In a difficult environment, normally you’d say that the rate per mile will also be under pressure, but we’re not seeing that,” he said. “We see our rate per mile improving since, I would say, probably, mid-March. But the activity is down.”
Here in Canada, steel shipments are down due to the tariffs.
TFI International has been growing its shipment volumes from smaller customers, which now represent a 2% increase in the company’s volumes compared to just one quarter ago, due to a renewed focus on growing volume from small shippers. This marks a change in direction from previous quarters, where the company was more focused on growing volume from large customers.
Tariffs have also thrown cold water on TFI’s aggressive acquisitions activity.
“We closed two very small deals in Q2,” Bédard said. “We had one transaction that we really liked, but because of all this uncertainty on tariffs, we had to walk away from that deal. It was a transaction we were really happy to do but because of all this uncertainty, we said ‘Nah, forget about it. We can’t touch that. Maybe later on. We’ll see down the road, once we get better clarity.’ So, this is why our M&A in 2025 is going to be minimal.”
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