Shares of truckload and logistics carrier U.S. Xpress Enterprises Inc. closed unchanged yesterdayin its first day of trading after its initial offering was priced at $16 a share, below the original range of $18 to 20 a share.
Shares of the Chattanooga-based company ended trading on the New York Stock Exchange at $16.68 a share. Nearly 18.1 million shares were offered, with the company selling 16.68 million shares and the founding families selling 1.38 million shares. The company expects to raise $250 million from the offering, after expenses. The individual shareholders seek to receive about $22 million.
According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Xpress generated more than $1.5 billion in operating revenue in 2017. It posted operating income of $28.6 million, up nearly $1 million from 2016 levels. It posted a $3.9 million net loss last year, better than the $15.9 million net loss reported in 2016. Its net interest expense in 2017 was more than $49 million. The company hopes to use part of the IPO proceeds to pay down debt.
As a private company, U.S. Xpress has never disclosed specific financial results. It has said previously that it is the fifth-largest truckload carrier, by revenue, in the U.S.
The IPO comes during a solid upcycle for truckload carriers, buoyed by solid demand and higher rates. U.S. Xpress said that revenue in the first quarter, a period when rates soared, rose 17 percent from the year-earlier quarter. First-quarter operating income was $14.8 million, which was about half of the operating income reported in all of 2017.
