PAMT Corp (PAMT) 2005 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the P.A.M. transportation services fourth-quarter earnings conference call. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded.

歡迎參加P.A.M.運輸服務第四季財報電話會議。溫馨提示：今天的電話會議正在錄音中。

Certain information included in this document contains or may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements may relate to expected future, financial and operating results or events, and are thus prospective. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

本文件所包含的某些資訊包含或可能包含《1995年私人證券訴訟改革法》所界定的前瞻性陳述。此類前瞻性陳述可能與預期的未來財務和營運結果或事件有關，因此具有前瞻性。此類前瞻性陳述受風險、不確定性和其他因素的影響，這些因素可能導致實際結果與此類前瞻性陳述明示或暗示的未來結果有重大差異。

At this time, I'll turn the call over to your host, Mr. Bob Weaver. Please go ahead, sir.

現在，我將把電話轉給主持人鮑伯‧韋弗先生。先生，請講。

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our fourth-quarter conference call. Obviously, we are more pleased with the results of our fourth quarter than we have been in some recent past quarters, and hopefully you all are, as well.

謝謝大家。大家早上好，歡迎參加我們的第四季電話會議。顯然，我們對第四季的業績比過去幾季更加滿意，希望大家也是如此。

If I refer back a minute to our last call, you'll remember that much of our discussion circled around our efforts to increase rates and recover more of our fuel cost increases. And we made the statement at that time that those efforts, although in place, had not fully matured. The results of our fourth quarter are primarily a reflection of the fact that those factors have matured at this time.

如果我回顧一下我們上次的電話會議，你們會記得，當時我們的討論主要圍繞著提高費率和收回更多燃油成本上漲的努力。我們當時聲明，這些努力雖然已經到位，但尚未完全成熟。我們第四季的業績主要反映了這些因素目前已經成熟。

There are a number of areas that I could get into and talk about. But, in order to be more specific, to get your questions answered I'm going to go ahead and throw the floor open for questions and address those.

我可以深入探討的領域有很多。但為了更具體、更全面地解答大家的問題，我先開放提問環節，並進行解答。

(OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). [Sean Gelston].

（操作員指示）。 [肖恩·蓋爾斯頓]。

Congratulations on a good quarter. I'm just wondering if you could tell us a little bit about your fleet growth plans for the coming year.

恭喜您本季業績喜人。請問您能否簡單介紹一下您明年的機隊成長計畫？

And your name was Sean, was it?

你的名字是肖恩，對嗎？

Yes, it was.

是的。

We have had pretty good success in the last few months on recruiting. Our training program is holding good. And we have, as of the first of the year, we have signed on with the FLW Pro Bass Tour as a sponsor for that, and in doing so, we get a good deal of advertising. And it's aimed at the sort of people that, fortunately, like to maybe be involved in trucks or drive trucks. And we've seen some good success and some good recruits from that.

過去幾個月，我們的招募工作相當成功。我們的培訓項目進展順利。從今年年初開始，我們就與FLW Pro Bass Tour簽約，成為其贊助商，由此獲得了大量的廣告宣傳。我們的專案目標族群是那些幸運地喜歡卡車或駕駛卡車的人。我們已經取得了一些不錯的成績，也招募了一些優秀的人才。

Additionally, in January of this year, we did implement a new driver pay increase geared primarily to the less experienced driver, which was the ones we were losing the most rapidly in our driver turnover. We feel pretty good about the fact that we are going to be able to decrease that turnover in those numbers, and at the same time keep our recruiting efforts at the level that we need to, to be able to add equipment.

此外，今年1月，我們確實實施了一項新司機加薪計劃，主要針對經驗不足的司機，而這些司機正是我們司機流失速度最快的群體。我們很高興能夠降低這些司機的流失率，同時將招募力度保持在必要的水平，以便能夠增加設備。

I do have an additional 50 tractors ordered at this time that will be coming in over the next three months. We feel good about being able to man those equipment, and also feel good about having the business that we need to give those guys something to do.

我目前還訂購了另外50台拖拉機，將在未來三個月內到貨。我們很高興能夠操作這些設備，也很高興能有生意做，讓這些傢伙有事可做。

From an acquisition standpoint, we have just not been able to come to agreeable terms pricewise to make any meaningful acquisition at this point.

從收購的角度來看，我們目前還無法就價格達成一致，以進行任何有意義的收購。

So you expect to receive delivery of 50 tractors over the next three months. What about for the rest of the year? Do you have any --?

所以您預計未來三個月會收到50台拖拉機。那今年剩下的時間呢？您有什麼計劃嗎？

We have a lot more than 50 tractors coming in. The first three months, there's only 50 additional during those months. Depending on how our recruiting efforts continue, why, we will make a decision in subsequent months on how many trucks we will be able to add.

我們收到的牽引車遠不止50輛。前三個月，只新增了50輛。我們將根據招募工作的進展情況，在接下來的幾個月中決定能夠增加多少輛卡車。

And I see you provide the average numbers of trucks over the quarter. What did you end with?

我看到您提供了本季度卡車的平均數量。您最後得出了什麼結果？

The quarter we ended with -- it looks like 1,777.

我們本季結束時的數字是 1,777。

(OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). [Christine Kubacki], A.G. Edwards.

（操作員說明）。 [克莉絲汀‧庫巴奇]，A.G.愛德華茲。

I'm calling in for Donald Broughton. Great quarter, guys. I just wanted to talk a little bit about -- it looks like you guys did a solid job on the rate. I was wondering what your expectations are going forward. And how has it been with customer discussions and volumes in the first quarter so far?

我找的是唐納德·布勞頓。各位，這個季度表現很棒。我只是想簡單聊聊——看起來你們在利率方面做得很好。我想知道你們對未來的預期是什麼。第一季到目前為止，客戶討論和交易量如何？

We have had good success with the rates. There's really, I guess, two pieces to that answer, Christine. One, we took on some business in the fourth quarter that is more of, I guess, a temporary type business that we bid on. And when we do that, we bid that business out with the fuel surcharge included in some of it. And then, as that business turns over to a contract, then the fuel surcharge is put in place, and the actual revenue per mile on the rate side will come down sort of commensurate with the fuel surcharge.

我們在費率方面取得了不錯的成績。克里斯汀，我想這個問題的答案實際上有兩個面向。首先，我們在第四季承接了一些業務，我猜，這些業務更像是我們競標的臨時業務。當我們競標這些業務時，我們會在部分業務中包含燃油附加費。然後，隨著這些業務轉化為合同，燃油附加費就會到位，費率方面每英里的實際收入也會隨之下降，與燃油附加費大致相當。

So that's one reason that the rate per mile in the fourth quarter was up like it was. But as that business converts over to contract on a long-term basis, the revenue we receive from it will be the same, but it will be a different mix between rate per mile and surcharge.

這就是第四季每英里費率上漲的原因之一。但隨著這項業務長期轉化為合同，我們從中獲得的收入將保持不變，但每英里費率和附加費的組合將有所不同。

But at the same time, we know that there are some customers that still are not paying quite the rate level that we see, and we think that probably rate levels over the year should rise somewhere between 2 and 4%. We are hearing higher numbers in that from some of the other carriers out there, but we think that with the push that we had on late in the year, that probably 2 to 4% during the year is what we will really be looking for.

但同時，我們知道仍有一些客戶支付的費用低於我們所看到的水平，我們認為全年費率水平應該會上漲2%到4%。我們從其他一些營運商那裡聽到了更高的數字，但我們認為，考慮到我們今年年底的推動，我們真正希望的是全年費率上漲2%到4%。

How did volume trend throughout the fourth quarter, and how is it trending in the first quarter so far?

第四季的交易量趨勢如何？第一季迄今的交易量趨勢如何？

It has been very strong in both quarters. We have not seen any kind of slowdown, even after the break for the holidays, Christmas and New Year's. It's been fairly good.

兩個季度都表現強勁。即使在聖誕節和新年假期之後，我們也沒有看到任何放緩跡象。情況相當不錯。

So on a year-over-year basis in the first quarter so far, you'd say it exceeds last year?

那麼，與第一季迄今為止的同比數據相比，您認為其成長超過了去年嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Just on a sidenote, what percentage of the business is still automotive?

順便問一下，汽車業務佔比還有多少？

For the year, automotive wound up 51%. And actually, the number of loads hauled has decreased considerably -- a significant number, but the rate increases kind of hold the percentage up there.

今年汽車運輸佔比上升了51%。實際上，運輸量大幅下降了——數量相當可觀，但運費上漲在一定程度上支撐了這一比例。

Are you guys testing any of the '07 engines yet?

你們已經測試過 07 款引擎了嗎？

I've got two. They are not on the road yet. One is en route to here; the other has not been shipped at this time. But we will have two on the road shortly.

我有兩輛。它們還沒上路。一輛正在運到這裡；另一輛目前還沒出貨。不過我們很快就會有兩輛上路。

But you haven't tested any yet with that?

但您還沒有測試過嗎？

No, I haven't.

不，我沒有。

And then just one final question. On salary, wages and benefits, if I look at them on a per-mile basis, it looks like it improved. What are you guys thinking going forward? Do you see any driver rate hikes in the near future?

最後一個問題。關於工資、福利，如果按每英里計算，看起來情況有所改善。你們對未來有什麼打算？你們認為近期司機的費率會漲嗎？

Well, as I said, we just increased rates in January. I think that will hold us -- well, depending on what experience we have from it, but I feel like that rate increase puts us up very competitive with the competition. And I think what we do will depend somewhat on what the competition does, but I don't foresee any in the near future right now.

嗯，正如我所說，我們一月份剛剛提高了利率。我認為這會讓我們——嗯，這取決於我們的經驗，但我覺得這次利率上調讓我們在競爭中更具競爭力。我認為我們的行動在某種程度上取決於競爭對手的行動，但我目前預計近期不會有任何行動。

Fair enough and, again, great quarter, guys.

很公平，再次，這是一個很棒的季度，夥計們。

(OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS).

（操作員指示）。

Operator, it sounds like they're done.

接線員，聽起來他們已經完成了。

There are no questions at this time, gentlemen.

先生們，現在沒有問題。

Okay. Once again, thanks for you all coming on the conference call. And as you can see, there were not many questions. And it looks like the reason for that is we have held these conference calls now for the last couple of years, and we did it in the beginning thinking that it would probably save some time. Our experience has been that it has not, because we have a conference call and then after the conference call is over, most people will wind up calling on a one-on-one basis, anyway.

好的。再次感謝大家參加電話會議。正如你們所見，問題並不多。這似乎是因為我們過去幾年一直在舉行這樣的電話會議，一開始我們以為這樣做可能會節省一些時間。但我們的經驗是，這樣做並沒有節省時間，因為我們會開電話會議，而且會議結束後，大多數人最終都會進行一對一的交流。

So with that said, most likely this will be our final conference call. And we'll go back to talking to you like we did before. So anyway, thanks again for your interest.

話雖如此，這很可能是我們最後一次電話會議了。我們會像以前一樣繼續和大家溝通。總之，再次感謝大家的關注。

That does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. Have a great day.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。祝您擁有美好的一天。