ArcBest Corporation

All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Afterwards, we will conduct a -and-answer session. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I will now turn it over to Ms. Amy Mendenhall, Vice President, Treasury, and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to be here today with Judy McReynolds, our Chairman and CEO, Seth Runzer, our President, and Matt Beasley, Chief Financial Officer. Other members of our Executive Leadership Team will also be available during the Q&A session. Before we begin, please note that some of the comments we make today will be forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which are detailed in the forward-looking statement section of our earnings, release, and SEC filings. To provide meaningful comparisons, we will also discuss certain non-GAP financial measures that are outlined and described in the tables of our earnings release. Reconciliations of GAP to non-GAP measures are provided in the additional information section of the presentation slides. You can access the conference call slide deck on our website at arcb.com in our 8K filed earlier this morning or follow along on the webcast. And now I will turn the call over to Judy.

Thank you, Amy, and good morning, everyone. I want to start by thanking our employees for their unwavering dedication and hard work. Despite challenges in the freight environment driven by soft industrial production and a changing trade policy landscape, I'm proud of our progress and how our team carried out strategic initiatives that have led to significant service improvements and efficiency gains. We remain steadfast in our commitment to creating value for our shareholders and customers through the disciplined execution of our strategy. Our ongoing efforts to drive operational efficiency, leverage innovative solutions, and strengthen customer relationships are a strong foundation for sustained success. As our customers navigate changes to U.S. tariffs and trade policies, we're focused on helping them quickly adapt. It's more important than ever for shippers to drive efficiencies across every aspect of their supply chain and build flexibility into their operations. Our best comprehensive suite of integrated solutions, innovative technology, and problem solving mentality position us to help customers achieve these efficiencies and build better supply chains. Our managed solution in particular does just that. Having been in this industry for a long time, one thing is certain, disruptions are inevitable. I take great pride in hearing stories from our customers about how our services, solutions, and dedicated teams have helped them overcome real challenges. Recently, we partnered with a leading manufacturer of lighting solutions to modernize their shipping operations. Historically, they use manual processes to route orders and determine warehouse shipping locations. Through our reporting capabilities and the automation of key processes like shipment consolidation and routing, we are driving tangible results. In addition to soft benefits, they now project a 5% savings using our managed solution. This innovative approach supports their needs and helps them better serve their own customers. It is a perfect example of how we partner with customers and, as we always say, when our customers succeed, we succeed. The upcoming NMSC classification changes present another potential disruption to our industry. Years ago, we anticipated that the industry would move towards space-based pricing, and Artbest became the first in the LTL industry to launch this pricing approach. Our long history of capturing accurate dimensions positions us well to support customers with these changes. We are proactively working with customers to help them understand the potential impacts on their freight profiles and successfully navigate new classification codes. Artbest's foresight regarding the freight industry's move to space-based pricing also led us to develop a mobile dimensioner and ultimately introduce Box Vision, which we announced in February. This innovative 3D perception technology transforms forklifts into intelligent mobile dimensioners that provide precise real-time freight measurements, images, and detailed shipping insights on the go. The pilot phase of Box Vision will give us critical data to refine the technology and ensure it delivers significant value. We expect Box Vision to be a cost-effective solution that can easily be adopted and integrated, enhancing transparency and compliance in freight handling workflows. Following the pilot period, we are excited to roll this technology out more broadly to the market. We remain deeply committed to continuous improvement across the business and are taking steps to ensure our customers have the right solutions and capacity to meet their needs. Ultimately, our innovative solutions and our team are why our customers come back to us time and time again. Looking ahead, I'm as confident as ever that Artbest is well positioned to deliver long-term value as a leading logistics partner and innovator. I'll now turn the call over to Seth to update you on our progress in key areas of focus for 2025.

Thanks Judy and good morning everyone. As we discussed last quarter, our priorities for 2025 are driving profitable growth, advancing our premium service for customers, and focusing on optimization and efficiency. The recent leadership and organizational changes instituted earlier this year are already fostering increased collaboration across the business and I'm pleased with the early signs of success. By addressing workflow bottlenecks, we've sped up decision making and streamlined processes with our sales, legal, and pricing teams enabling a 31% improvement in the speed of deal execution. We've accelerated growth in our sales pipeline with a higher mix of core LTL opportunities and we're investing in our sales teams, particularly to grow our share of small and medium-sized business. Customers increasingly prefer digital engagement and our initiatives to capture new business and service existing customers digitally are paying off. We are now receiving over 200,000 dynamic quote requests from customers each day. More digital quotes give us the opportunity to be more selective in the freight we choose optimizing our network and profitability. We have seen a 50% increase in revenue for shipment levels for dynamic business since 2020 and we expect even greater profit contributions from this business as we continue to grow our daily quoting opportunities. Through our integrated solutions, we are uniquely positioned to say yes to our customers. Addressing their diverse needs and helping them drive efficiencies and manage supply chain uncertainties. Judy highlighted our managed transportation solution which delivers flexible tailored solutions. We continue to see encouraging demand for this solution which achieve double digit growth and all-time quarterly highs for both shipments and revenue. Our focus on service excellence includes continued investments in shipment visibility which has led to the majority of our customers now tracking their shipments digitally. This contributes to reduced customer service requests and improved productivity. We're also advancing solutions like flex deliveries which provides customers with a delivery window and a picture of doorstep deliveries for added convenience and transparency. Additionally, our appointment optimization project is in its first pilot at select service centers. These initiatives feed valuable data into our optimization tools enhancing the efficiency of our pickup and delivery routes while elevating the overall customer experience. We continue to prioritize reducing customer churn by strengthening our onboarding and retention efforts. We've established a multi-department focus group dedicated to aligning resources, analyzing key factors, and recommending actionable changes to improve retention. Additionally, we're streamlining the onboarding process to identify customer requirements earlier and meet those needs more effectively ensuring a seamless and efficient experience for new customers. We believe this new process will further improve our retention statistics and enhance the customer experience. We are progressing our targeted optimization projects to enhance efficiency and service quality. City route optimization phase two leverages daily demand predictions to streamline pickup routes allowing us to better accommodate customer requests and enhance service efficiency. Phase three introduces a dynamic routing tool that generates nearly real-time automated customized routes while allowing for human adjustments based on local expertise. We're rolling out these phases strategically starting with the most impactful service centers first. Notably, at our Baltimore Service Center, implementing this software reduced the managers' planning hours from four hours to just 45 minutes, allowing for more direct engagement with teams on the dock and less screen time. We continue our campaign of having a team of operational experts visit our facilities to support best practices across our network driving improved service and efficiency. This highly specialized team carefully evaluates the unique needs of each location and customizes training and software adjustments to ensure optimal outcomes. During the first quarter, training was completed at nine sites resulting in six million in savings. Our truckload digital roadmap continues to make steady progress. Carrier portal adoption has reached 22 percent while 45 percent of shipments are now digitally fulfilled. To further enhance efficiency, we've launched an inbound call automation pilot aimed at automating routine calls so our teams can focus on servicing more value-added customer requests. Additionally, digital quote augmentation is on the rise with further advancements on the horizon. During the first quarter of 2025, these efficiency and optimization projects drove productivity improvements of one percent for asset operations and 24 percent for asset light operations. While these improvements are impressive, we recognize the opportunity to achieve even greater efficiencies in the future. Our strategy and optimization team is tasked with advancing operational excellence and scalable growth. Through job shadowing and a comprehensive review of enterprise processes, the team is identifying opportunities for improvement by leveraging previous successes in technology, compliance campaigns, and optimization initiatives. This team will advance our highest priority initiatives and work to further streamline processes and improve productivity. Disciplined execution and moving with urgency have been central to our efforts this quarter. With these principles guiding our strategy, we are well prepared to meet the evolving needs of our customers in any environment and drive profitable growth. I'll now turn it over to Matt to go through the financials in greater detail.

Thank you, Seth, and good morning, everyone. As we navigate the soft industrial economy and challenging truckload market, our focus remains on driving actions that strengthen our business. We have made significant progress in boosting operational efficiency and eliminating unnecessary costs. These efforts position us to adapt effectively to dynamic market conditions while driving long-term value creation. Turning to our first quarter results, consolidated revenue decreased by 7% from last year's first quarter to $967 million. Non-GAAP operating income from continuing operations was $17 million compared to $43 million in the first quarter. The second quarter saw a $27 million decrease in operating income while the asset light segment's non-GAAP operating loss of $1 million was $4 million better than the prior year. Adjusted earnings per share were 51 cents, down from $1.34 in the first quarter of 2024. Now let's discuss our two segments in more detail. Starting with our asset-based business, first quarter revenue was $646 million, a per-day decrease of 3%. ABS operating ratio was .9% and increased to 390 basis points over first quarter 2024. ABS operating ratio also increased 390 basis points sequentially, within the historical range of a 350 to 400 basis point increase. In the first quarter, daily shipments were flat year over year while weight per shipment decreased by 4%, resulting in a 4% decrease in tons per day compared to the previous year. This decline is primarily due to industrial weakness, as customers are producing less in the current economic environment. Additionally, higher interest rates and low housing inventory have led to fewer household goods moves, which typically involve heavier shipments. Some higher weight LTO shipments have also shifted to the truckload market with its continued low rates and excess capacity. Despite lower tonnage levels, the volume of shipments remained relatively stable, which meant that labor costs didn't decrease proportionally with the tonnage declines. However, improved productivity through technology and training helped manage costs while maintaining high service standards. Year over year, costs for fuel and repairs decreased, but non-union health care and insurance related expenses increased by $6 million, adding 90 basis points to our operating ratio. We secured an average increase of .9% on our contract renewals and deferred pricing agreements during the quarter. Revenue per hundredweight increased by 2% in the first quarter compared to the first quarter of 2024. Price improvements have been partially offset by declining fuel costs. Excluding fuel surcharges, revenue per hundredweight increased in the low to mid single digits year over year. The pricing environment remains rational, and we are focused on using pricing and operational efficiency improvements to outpace rising costs and enhance our margins. Turning to April 2025 trends in our asset-based business, we achieved a 4% -over-year increase in daily shipments, highlighting our success in 2019. We have been capturing new core business opportunities. Despite the market backdrop leading to a 3% decrease in weight per shipment, we saw a 1% increase in daily tonnage levels compared to the same period last year. On the pricing front, we saw a 2% -over-year decrease in revenue per hundredweight per April. When excluding fuel surcharges, the decline was less than 1%. This decrease was partly driven by an increase in core customers with easier to handle freight, which generally have a lower revenue per hundredweight profile but are operationally more efficient. Additionally, there was a decline in shipments within the manufacturing vertical where we typically see a higher revenue per hundredweight profile. The ongoing trend of fewer household goods moves, influenced by current economic and interest rate conditions, also continued to impact our results in April. Historically, ABF's non-GAAP operating ratio has improved by 300 to 400 basis points from the first to the second quarter, and we expect our second quarter operating ratio improvement to remain within this range. Moving on to the asset light segment, first quarter revenue was $356 million, a daily decrease of 9% -over-year. Shipments per day were down 4% as we strategically reduced less profitable truckload volumes, offsetting double digit growth in our managed solution. Revenue per shipment decreased by 6% due to the soft rate market and growth in our managed business, which has smaller shipment sizes and lower revenue per shipment level. Our non-GAAP operating loss of $1.2 million was an improvement compared to last year's non-GAAP operating loss of $4.7 million. This improvement was driven by our focus on improving margins while reducing operating costs. In April 2025, asset light -over-year daily revenue was down 10% due to fewer shipments from a strategic reduction in less profitable truckload volumes, offsetting the continued strength in managed. Lower revenue per shipment resulted from soft rate market conditions and a higher proportion of managed business with smaller shipment sizes. Given current market conditions, we anticipate a non-GAAP operating loss for this segment of $1.2 million for the second quarter of 2025. I'll now turn to our long-term balanced approach to capital allocation. Our 2025 capital expenditure guidance of $225 to $275 million reflects maintenance capital spending to optimize our total cost of ownership in strategic capital investments in our highest priority projects. We are focused on deploying this capital in the most effective way possible to enable growth, improve service, and increase efficiencies across our network, and we currently expect to be at the lower end of our capital range for the year. We also acquired leases for two strategically located facilities through the recent yellow property auction process during the quarter, while returning over $24 million to shareholders through both share repurchases and dividends. We will act opportunistically on share repurchases based on share price, balancing organic capital investments while maintaining reasonable leverage levels. Our balance sheet remains strong, and we have approximately $350 million in available liquidity. While external factors can be unpredictable, Artvest is focused on controlling what we can, serving our customers with excellence, optimizing our operations, and maintaining financial discipline. I'll now hand the call back to Judy.

Thank you, Matt. As we move forward, we will continue to adapt to the evolving trade environment, leveraging our strengths to support customers and drive sustainable growth. Artvest remains well positioned to navigate challenges and capitalize on opportunities, reinforcing our role as a trusted logistics partner. That concludes our prepared remarks. I'll turn it over to the operator for questions.

At this time, I would like to remind everyone in order to ask a question, please press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. We request that you limit yourself to one question. We will pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Daniel Imbrow with Stufans Inc. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everybody. Thanks for taking our questions. Maybe we'll start a little bit on the near term set up. I think in the filing and your comments, you noted normal seasonality is what, 300 to 400 basis points better at ABF. I guess what's assumed in the sequential change in revenue that's underpinning that? Sorry if we missed that in the comments. And then just to put a finer point on the profitability beyond revenue, I guess, are there any specific cost reductions that you're targeting due to the macro that's changing or no specific changes happening on the cost structure here as we think about the sequential move through the year? Thanks.

Yeah, thanks for the question, Daniel. So, I'd say just at a high level, we didn't provide any particular outlook around revenue, but certainly we said as we see the move from the first quarter to the second quarter, we do expect normal seasonality with that change, with that you would expect just the normal typical seasonal increases in revenue per day that are a big driver of that improvement in the operating ratio. I'd say on the cost side, we've got a full portfolio of cost initiatives that continue, certainly the compliance campaigns that have continued to be successful for us, those are continuing at our largest service centers and distribution centers this year. We continue to make sure that we are aligning our workforce to our business levels and have a lot of flexibility there. So, I would just say just continued progress on the cost side in line with what you've seen from us over the last few years.

Your next question comes from the Scott Drupke with Wolfe Research. Please go ahead.

Hey, thanks. Good morning. So, I think you said March to April tonnage is up 1% sequentially, but rep for 100 weights down 1% sequentially. Is there any way you could share what the normal seasonality is for those two metrics, March to April? I guess ultimately what I'm trying to understand is we're in this sort of uncertain, maybe weakening macro backdrop and tonnage is turning positive for the first time in a couple of years, but now yields are turning negative. Are we with the dynamic pricing, or are we sacrificing some price in order to get volume? Just trying to understand the moving pieces that we're seeing in the next year.

Scott, this is Judy. Good morning. When we look at the opportunities that we have, nothing has changed. We're very driven by reviewing the opportunity set, which by the way, the pipeline is up 55% this year because of some of the alignment that we have with our sales and customer solutions teams, which we're really excited about. But as we're looking at those opportunities and evaluating them, we have a very disciplined approach. We've got a strong team. We have the strongest pricing metrics in the industry, and we're seeing good increases on the most price sensitive accounts, I think nearly 5% in the quarter on those. From a dynamic standpoint, Eddie, I'll turn it over to you, see if you have some comments about that as well.

Yeah, thanks, Judy. From a dynamic standpoint, nothing's really changed from quarter to quarter, month to month in terms of how much that's contributing to our numbers. If anything, our dynamic prices have improved over time. Because just as Seth mentioned earlier, our quote pool continues to expand, and that's given us an opportunity to really optimize the shipments that we are able to get from that quoting mechanism. We feel really good about the price levels of dynamic, but really the story of our growth is just our improvement to capture more core LTL business. As Judy mentioned, we're very disciplined in how we're pricing that business. It's profitable for us. It does have some different characteristics of our average, and that's what's driving some of the change, but ultimately, we're going to make the right decisions on an account by account basis to drive profitable growth for the company.

Your next question comes from the line of Ariel Rosa with Citigroup. Please go ahead.

Yes, hi. Good morning. This is Ben Moore at Citi on for RE. Thanks for taking our question. Your guide for 300 to 400 bips of improvement sequentially into 2Q, can you break that out a bit? Is there some headwind to your OR on lower volumes from the tariffs, but offset by your cost doubts? In other words, without the tariff headwind, but with your cost doubts, how much better than your historical 300 or 400 could you possibly do?

Well, what I would say then is as we develop the disclosure and our view of the OR range and how we feel that we're going to perform against history, it really takes into account all those factors. We have macro inputs. We have internal initiative inputs. What I'm really proud of is we have made some sizable investments, not only in technology initiatives as we've been mentioning, but also on the equipment side and in the real estate investments. Those are really a contributing factor. What I'd like to do is ask Matt Godfrey to talk about the benefits of what we're seeing on some of those investments with our equipment and the real estate that we put in place.

Thanks, Judy. When we look at our real estate portfolio and the investments we've made, it's really been a strategic and disciplined approach to add capacity to our network. It's been a mix of adding facilities around our distribution centers to add transfer capacity. In those situations, as Judy mentioned, we've seen the expected growth and inefficiency in service that we've expected to see. Those gains in efficiency and service support our strong pricing that Eddie was talking about earlier. Then in locations where we've replaced the facility, we've moved into larger facility. That's a long-term decision to add capacity to the network, but we're not adding cost in the short term to continue to service that market. We'll add the cost to service the business as it comes on. Also, on the equipment side, we've been able to bring in equipment at our optimal total cost of ownership model with support. We've seen a reduction in our maintenance cost, again, year over year after a significant improvement, in 2024 year over year. We'd like where we're at from an equipment and a capacity standpoint to continue to serve our customers well and support growth.

Ben, I just want to make sure that everyone has a good understanding of the benefits that are flowing into both the second quarter as we see it and then for the remainder of 2025. We're just in the early stages of some of those. It's just important to stay focused on that as well as all the macro noise that's going on.

Your next question comes from the line of Elliot Alper with TD. Colin, please go ahead.

Yeah, thank you. This is Elliot Alper for Jason Seidel. So, contract renewals increased sequentially from .5% last quarter to 4.9 in Q1. Can you talk about the pricing environment in LTL right now? Maybe how we should interpret the sequential growth in pricing in an environment that at least so far feels maybe incrementally weaker compared to last quarter and maybe more uncertainty in the macro?

Yeah, Elliot, this is Eddie. I think from an overall macro standpoint, we're still seeing the market be very rational in terms of pricing. There's really no, what I would say, a peer out there that's really going after growth at the expense of pricing. I'm really proud of the team and how we're able to have great conversations with our customers about the value we're providing them. And I think that's really why we're able to get a good increase with these renewals. In this environment, I think there's always a chance that increases could suffer the expense of a business. We're really not seeing that at this point. Customers appreciate the value we're offering them and they're responding appropriately by granting these increases.

Your next question comes from the line of Chris Weatherby with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

Hey, thanks. Good morning, guys. I guess I wanted to hit on weight per shipment. So, it sounds like there's some mixed components going on there with maybe less industrial freight, but we're seeing levels that are fairly low in the long-term history of the company. So, I guess I'm just curious how you're thinking about it. If there's anything you're doing with either dynamic pricing or the approach to the market that's influencing this a bit more than just what the market is giving you. I just want to get some sense on how that's playing out going forward.

Yeah. Hey, thanks, Chris. This is Seth. So, obviously, weight per shipment is being impacted by just the softer macro environment and what's going on as shippers reduce shipment size. We've talked in the past about shipping three skids down to two, things like that. So, although our retention is in a great place, our customers are just simply producing a little bit less than they have been. That's kind of the same story we've been talking about for a few years now. So, although we feel great about those retention stats, we don't want to lose any customers, which is why we're investing in that retention team that we mentioned in the beginning in our prepared remarks. But we are impacted a little bit more on weight per shipment because of the UPEC service we offer, which is the housing market and interest rates where they are. It's resulted in just fewer household good moves. Those are generally a smaller shipment count, but they're heavier in nature just as we move. So, customers continue to utilize that service just at a reduced rate simply because of where the housing market is. We've talked a little bit about freight migrating over to truckload due to the excess capacity in the truckload space right now. So, nothing new really going on from what we saw in 2024. We think that freight's going to eventually flow back to the LTL space when the market flips. But we've been encouraged by ultimately what our customers are looking for, and that's efficiency in their supply chains. That's why we continue to be encouraged by our pipeline stats. The change we mentioned in January, we've seen the pipeline go up 55 percent. The speed of deal velocity that I mentioned in my prepared remarks are just impressive, to be honest with you. So, customers are ultimately looking for a partner they can trust. And when you think about our history, we're 102 years old. We've seen a lot of cycles in our history, a lot of disruptions these last five years, but we're focused on what's in our control. And we're having great momentum with the initiatives, our pipeline, and all these investments that we've made. So, we're positioning ourselves for growth now, but also remaining disciplined on our pricing and our costs as we move into the future. So, I feel like we have the best team in the industry, and I feel confident in our ability to execute for our customers and our shareholders.

Our next question comes from the line of Ken Hoster with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Hey, Greg. Good morning. Um, Judy, I hear a lot about the rational or pricing is still rational from you, Seth, and the team. But, you know, if I think about, Saya talked about some negative pricing, you're talking about negative pricing moving into April. TFI talked about using some GRI discounts. Maybe just help me understand that. I mean, I understand weights are going down, and so maybe that's that's part of the issue we're seeing here. But I want to understand, because I think that's what investors are really concerned about is what is going on set to that last answer in terms of the edge. And then you had a 50% increase in revenue per shipment on the dynamic business. Is that just doing more spot? How should we think about the shifts there? Because I'm just trying to understand the impacts to the OR, which have been maybe greater than we've seen at industry peers in terms of the degradation. Thanks.

So, hey, Scott, or Ken, this is Seth again. So, we mentioned the April, we did see the 2% decrease in revenue per hundred weight, excluding fuel. It's less than 1%. So we talked about how mix is kind of driving this, those easier to handle shipments that generally have a lower revenue per hundred weight profile, but a better operational efficiency. So we mentioned that I talked about the household good moving, things like that. Those generally have a higher revenue per hundred weight. So we're impacted a little bit more than our peers, but there's also the comparison that's playing into this a little bit. If you look at 2Q23 to 2Q24, the post yellow disruption and all the things that were going on, our price was up 23% from 2Q23 to 2Q24. So we got a little bit of cop going in there. Our mix of dynamic shipments remain consistent with prior year and prior quarter, no change in strategy there at really strong prices. So I mentioned that more customers want to engage with us digitally. And as our pool grows, we in turn end up picking the shipments that best fit our network that are the most profitable optimal as well. So as that pool grows, we have more opportunities or swings at the bat, which allows us to make the profitable optimal decision, as I mentioned. So the new business we're bringing on, it is incrementally profitable. It's the right decision for the company. And it's great to see the growth that we achieved in April, 4% year over year was good to see that our strategies and initiatives are paying off. So normally that average sequential OR change, Matt mentioned in his opening comments, three to 400 basis points. We're expecting to stay in that range because of all the initiatives and all the strategies that we're enabling to get improved results. So I really like the position we're in, regardless of all the noise in the market. We're built really for any environment. We stay close to our customers. And when you look at our revenue stats, 80% of our revenue comes from customers who've been with us over 10 years. So they've been coming to us through this disruption and we've been able to help navigate them. That's why we think we're going to come out on the other side in really good shape.

So. Your next question comes from the line of Alger with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Hi, morning. So in terms of revenue per day, which I think in April you said was down about 1%, I know there's a lot of puts and takes, but is there any sense from a year over year trend perspective, you know, can it look better or worse from here for the balance of the quarter? And then secondly, again, realizing there's a lot of tariff uncertainty out there. Have you specifically heard from customers about, you know, orders or particularly in the manufacturing sector?

Thanks. Yes, you know, I'll start by saying, you know, just the relationships that we have with our customers, you know, are truly close. And, you know, we work in a partnership with them, you know, to navigate these challenges. And we were looking back, you know, this morning, back to 2019, which was a recessionary environment. Also, in thinking about all the changes that we've seen in the last few years, you know, we've seen a lot of change since then. And it's just really been in a constant state of disruption. So we've learned a lot and do that well. And so, you know, I'll turn it over to Eddie for the specifics, but it is very helpful to us and beneficial to our shareholders, ultimately, the relationships that we have with our customers and the solutions that we bring to bear, you know, especially in a state of disruption. But Eddie, go ahead.

Yeah, thanks, Judy. You know, this is definitely a topic that's top of mind for our customers. We're having lots of conversations, trying to be there for our customers to help them navigate through these challenging times. You know, it's really a mixed bag, though, what we're hearing from customers. There is a group that's kind of in wait and see mode to really try to figure out what the next tweet is going to come out and say, and maybe, you know, are there really going to be changes across the different countries? Then there's another group that, you know, they're not waiting and they've taken advantage of some inbound or inbond warehousing options to get their freight moved. That's given them some great solutions there. There are some customers who are just utilizing more domestic manufacturing and supplier options. There are some customers who have implemented surcharges or passed along the higher cost. And then there's a big group of customers. It's just business as usual. This is not having a material impact on them right now. Ultimately, you know, there's, we offer our customers a wide range of solutions and we're there to support them. And we feel like we can navigate through any of these challenges.

Your next question comes from the line of Bruce Sean with Stifo. Please go ahead.

Good morning. This is Matt Myles going to Bruce. I'm curious as to the overall retail exposure as a percentage of your enterprise and perhaps how much of that might directly be tied to inbound traffic from China?

Yeah. So Matt, just overall, I would say it's a brown 10%, probably a little bit less in our asset-based business and a little bit more in our asset-like business, but overall not a significant exposure to the retail sector.

Your next question comes from the line of Stephanie Moore with Jeffries. Please go ahead.

Hi, Demetrius. I'm from the US. I'm a retail investor. Good morning. Thank you. Two questions. The one, maybe Judy, is a little bit of a higher, you know, big picture question. And to your point, you have this hundred plus year old company, you've been through many cycles. Can you talk about some of the levers or opportunities you can pull and, you know, maybe more of a stagflation environment? Clearly, you've dealt with inflation in the last several years, but, you know, in the backdrop of a relatively more constructive, great environment, at least, you know, back in 2020 and the like. But maybe if we were to see inflationary pressures persist while even the overall macro environment was a little bit weaker? Thank you.

Yeah, Stephanie, that's a great question. And, you know, I'll just start by reminding everyone that, you know, on the union labor contract for AVF, we have certainty on that and we've got clarity, you know, that we're going to be in that sort of 3% range, you know, in terms of cost increases there throughout the contract period. And so that's a big influence on the AVF costs or asset-based costs, you know, maybe somewhere in the neighborhood of, you know, 55 to 60%, you know, of the costs that we have for that part of our business. But I'll, you know, turn it over to Seth to talk a little bit more. You know, what I feel like that we're doing is that we have our focus on, you know, operational efficiencies. We also see that improving service levels, you know, for the company. But, you know, we've done some great work just identifying areas that can be more efficient and they're across the organization. And so Seth, you want to talk about those?

Yes, Stephanie, I would add that, you know, when you think about the tremendous opportunity that we have, we view markets like this as opportunity and we operate markets over $400 billion. So we have a lot of potential for growth regardless of what's going on in the macro. So that's where we're focused on the revenue side of things. And you've seen some of the early results of the changes we made. The second is really around efficiency. With Judy mentioned, we've been working on a multi-year plan for efficiency within our asset-based operation as well as asset light. And we've been pleased with the results. And there's a whole portfolio of projects within both business units utilizing things like AI, machine learning, different tools that we've built that have made us more nimble than we've ever been in our past. So we feel like we can scale costs, we can increase capacity, we can move with whatever the market brings to us. Really, when you think about what we've done around real estate, that's been a great story. Matt talked about some of the improvements in service and efficiency. It's great that we were very strategic there and didn't overspend our capital and make sure that we're positioning for the future. And then when you think about some of the different things going on on the asset light side, we made a big improvement on the profit, as you saw in our results. And a lot of that has to do with improving the mix of our account base, the profitability there, and really that cost control by implementing various technology initiatives, which got us to that 24% improvement year over year in productivity. So we're happy with the progress we're making, but we're not satisfied because we know we got a lot of runway and we see it in our front windshield. So I'm looking forward to what the future holds with the investments that we're making.

Yeah. And so Stephanie, when you think about that, all of that in an environment where inflation persists, it's just, I think, a very proactive approach to try to addressing key cost areas for us that we know that we can bring down. And that's our expectation, our customer's expectation, and it helps us improve margins and enhance shareholder value as well.

Your next question comes from the line of Tom Wadowitz with UBS. Please go ahead.

Yeah. Good morning. Well, I don't think you talked about this. Well, one just you've had on the competitive environment and so forth, but maybe within that SMB versus enterprise, are you seeing changes in your mix and seeing more competition for SMB? We've heard some of the LTLs talk about that. And then just kind of how you look at that, I think your commentary on demand is, it sounds like it's stable, I guess, if you look at like April versus March, but how do you think about May, June? Like, do you think it's reasonable to expect a seasonal pickup in May and June? Or would you say, hey, you know, we're not overly tariff levered, but, you know, that gives us some caution about expecting normal seasonality. So yeah, appreciate your thoughts on those two. Thank you.

Hey, Tom, it's Matt. So overall, on the SMB side, certainly that has been a major focus for us. You know, on the ABS side, we've got a large diverse base of customers, including a significant number of SMB customers. There certainly has been a big story on the asset life side, particularly the truckload business, as we've really doubled down on our SMB focus and made some significant shifts in the shift, the shipment mix there, which has really helped in terms of overall profitability. You know, as you think about some of the trends from here, you know, we do expect to see, you know, a continued pickup sequentially, you know, as we look forward, certainly in shipments, you know, in line with what we would expect to see on a seasonal basis historically. And certainly that will drive a revenue per day pickup, which will be a big part of what will be driving the improvement in our OR, that three to four hundred basis point improvement, which again, we expect to be in line with that seasonal, the historic seasonality.

Before going to the next question, again, if you would like to ask a question, press star one on your telephone keypad. Your next question comes from the line of Brian Austin with JP Morgan. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. I've got a couple clean up ones. I'll just ask them all in a row. Pretty short. Matt, low end of the capex. I don't know if I heard as to why you're moving or targeting that direction. If you could provide some more details on that. Also with the UPEC versus history, as we like we talked about this being low for a while. Maybe you can put some context around that in terms of like where it's been in prior low points for for the housing market. And then lastly, with Fox, the pilot, I think, was paused in twenty three. Sounds like you're getting some benefits from this. So when does that start to become part of EPS and not not adjusted? Thank

you. Yeah, so Brian, a few different items there and just want to make sure that I cover them all. But on the capital front, we certainly took a hard look at capital as we started the year, just knowing what the environment was looking like for twenty five certainly made sure that we were one targeting on our maintenance projects that those investments kept us in line with our total cost of ownership targets. There are strategic capital. Make sure that we were focusing on the highest priority projects there. I'd say as we move through the year, you know, just looking at the pace and timing of those investments this year and particularly what we expect on the real estate side, I think in general, our revenue equipment is going to be in line with what our expectations are for the year. But I do think there could be a little bit of a shift on the real estate side. We also see some opportunity for real estate sales to transpire as we move through the year, just based on some of the property additions that we've made to our portfolio over the last year or so, which could offset the net capital. You know, talking about Vox, certainly that has been a great story that continues to be something that is customer led and customer driven. Just listening to the feedback for our customers, it answers a lot of the challenges that they're facing just in terms of labor availability, addressing damages. Certainly the Vox Vision release that we had a few months ago really addresses some customers' needs around dimensions and is very timely with the upcoming NMSC changes. And so, yes, we certainly will be looking at that as we move forward and as we start to scale that business, we've got a strong and growing pipeline. But as we continue to make progress on converting those to committed revenue dollars, then we'll look at the non-GAAP presentation there. Trying to remember, I think there might have been one other component of your question. U-PAC, okay, yes, sorry. So that has continued to be a trend. You know, certainly we continue to see year over year decreases in that business. We're certainly focusing on the most profitable aspects of that and that is still helping our overall tonnage and our overall revenue per hundred weight. But we are still seeing on an absolute volume basis year over year decreases in that business.

Yeah, and Matt, I think part of the question was around, you know, past housing market downturns and is this consistent with that? And it absolutely is. I mean, I've been around long enough to think about the fourth quarter of 06, which was one of those and, you know, it's the same type of trend. But what I'll say is that team continues to perform at a very high customer satisfaction level and always has and that business has been around. It was one of the innovations that we brought to the market, you know, more than 20 years ago and it's an excellent product and is available. This is one of the reasons why we bring that up in April is because it's moving season, you know, as we come into it. And there are just some unique things about, I think, the interest rate environment and housing prices and some other things that have kind of stalled that marketplace. But I actually saw one of the UPAC Shining Stars employees on Saturday night and she's there. She said that team is ready to go, you know. So hopefully there'll be some interest moves and we can get back to a little bit more normal activity there. But anyway, so just thought I'd give you that perspective.

I will turn the call back over to Amy Mandelhoff for closing remarks.

Just wanted to thank everyone for joining us today. We certainly appreciate your interest in our events. Have a great day.

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.