Charges Batter YRC Worldwide

Trucking company YRC Worldwide (YRCW Quote - Cramer on YRCW - Stock Picks) swung to a big quarterly loss, primarily because of a substantial impairment charge related to its acquisitions.

YRC earned a penny a share for the fourth quarter, before items were factored in. After an impairment charge of $12.88 a share, reorganization costs of 9 cents a share, technology charges of 11 cents a share and gains on property disposals of 8 cents a share, it lost $12.99 on the bottom line.

A year ago, YRC earned 80 cents a share. Revenue declined to $2.35 billion from $2.41 billion in the same quarter last year.

"The economic environment was challenging throughout 2007 and it was increasingly so in the fourth quarter," said Bill Zollars, CEO of YRC, in a press release. "Looking forward, we expect the first quarter to also be difficult given it is seasonally the softest and we don't anticipate the economy improving in the near term. As the largest less-than-truckload provider, we are well positioned to benefit from economic recovery, when it occurs."

Shares of YRC, who owns Yellow Transportation and Roadway, were losing 14% early Monday.