Pacer International Reports Three Fold Increase In Income From Operations For The Fourth Quarter

Pacer International, Inc. (Nasdaq: PACR), the asset-light North American freight transportation and logistics services provider, today reported financial results for the three-month period and the year ended December 31, 2011.

FOURTH QUARTER RESULTS

• Income from operations more than tripled, increasing by $3.2 million to $4.2 million;
• Earnings per share improved by $0.06 to be $0.03 in 2011;
• 2011 adjusted earnings per share, which reflects the elimination of the deferred tax assets adjustment, is $0.07. See tabular reconciliation of adjusted earnings per share;
• Intermodal revenues improved by $8.5 million or 3.0%, while logistics revenues decreased by 25.8% to $68.3 million primarily due to the absence of the low-margin military shipments in our international operations in the 2011 period. Overall, revenues decreased by 4.1% to $358.0 million;
• Intermodal gross margin improved by $2.0 million but Logistics gross margin declined by $3.2 million;
• Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased by $4.5 million or 11.4%;
• Interest expense decreased by $2.4 million primarily due to loan origination costs of $1.6 million expensed in the 2010 period and lower borrowing levels; and income tax expense was $2.6 million which includes a $1.2 million adjustment to the deferred tax assets reflecting actions taken to lower our effective tax rate. The adjustment reduced earnings per share by $0.04.

(In millions, except for per share data)

				2011												2010
				Q1			Q2			Q3			Q4			Q4
Revenue			$	358.4		$	386.3		$	375.8		$	358.0		$	373.3
Gross margin			$	42.1		$	46.3		$	46.0		$	41.0		$	42.2
Gross margin %				11.7%			12.0%			12.2%			11.5%			11.3%
SG&A			$	36.5		$	37.0		$	37.5		$	35.0		$	39.5
Income from operations				3.9			7.5			11.4			4.2			1.0
Interest Expense				0.6			0.7			0.5			0.5			2.9
Earnings per share			$	0.06		$	0.12		$	0.19		$	0.03		$	(0.03)

“We are pleased with our fourth consecutive quarter of more than doubling our earnings year over year. Our company continues to drive double digit earnings growth despite the turbulent global economic environment. We continue to generate positive cash flow, as our cash flow from operations has increased more than $17 million during 2011. We now look for opportunities to reinvest our cash back into our business to drive future earnings growth,” said John J. Hafferty, CFO of Pacer.