Saia, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2010 Results

Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ: SAIA), a leading multi-regional less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier, today reported first quarter 2010 results.

First Quarter 2010 Results Compared to First Quarter 2009

• Revenues were $212.2 million, an increase of 3 percent over the prior year quarter
• Operating loss was $2.1 million compared to operating loss of $7.5 million in the prior year quarter
• Net loss per share was $0.21. Net loss per share in the prior year quarter was $0.47
• Operating ratio was 101.0 vs. 103.6 in the prior year quarter
• LTL tonnage per workday was up 2.8 percent from prior year as LTL shipments per workday were flat with a 2.8 percent increase in weight per shipment
• LTL yield was down 0.2 percent from the prior year quarter due to competitive pricing partially offset by higher fuel surcharge

First quarter margins improved primarily due to cost reduction efforts and productivity initiatives. These initiatives include the following:

• Productivity improvement in load average, dock and clerical categories
• Terminal labor cost per bill improvement of 8.5 percent
• Lower accident severity and 30 percent improvement in lost time injuries
• Improved cargo claims experience

“While improved relative to 2009 trends, the environment remains difficult with soft tonnage and industry overcapacity which continue to pressure yields. We are addressing this challenging environment with measured pricing decisions, targeted sales and marketing programs and engineered efficiency initiatives. While we are beginning to see some rationalization in pricing, we have a long way to go to recover the yield deterioration experienced over the past two years,” said Rick O’Dell, president and chief executive officer. “In the meantime, our execution is solid on a number of fronts including best in class on-time service and improved performance in key productivity metrics, safety and cargo claims.”

“Saia remains committed to managing through these difficult times with a relentless focus on our strategy of building density in our network, customer satisfaction and engineered process improvements to achieve long-term benefits for our customers and shareholders,” O’Dell said.