Swift Pre-Announces

Swift Transportation Company, Inc. (“Swift”) (NYSE: SWFT) announces that it expects Adjusted Earnings Per Share (“Adjusted EPS”) to be within the range of $0.33 to $0.36 for the fourth quarter of 2013, compared to management’s previous expectations of $0.40.
  
The lower than expected Adjusted EPS in the fourth quarter of 2013 is primarily related to four variables. First, during the fourth quarter, Swift has experienced unfavorable accident claims development, specifically related to our current year claims, and to a lesser extent on prior year claims, resulting in a negative impact on insurance and claims expense of approximately $12 million, or $0.05 of Adjusted EPS. The second headwind experienced during the quarter was associated with new fleet start-up and integration related costs. During the quarter, Swift was awarded several sizable new dedicated contracts. These new dedicated contracts in addition to the ongoing integration of both Central Refrigerated Services and a new 300 truck owner operator fleet during the quarter resulted in higher than expected start-up and integration related costs. While very excited about the long-term potential associated with each of these items noted above, both the short-term costs, as well as the short-term utilization impact of these items were underestimated. The final two variables experienced during the quarter were the severe weather experienced throughout the United States and the negative impact associated with the recent changes to the hours of service regulations, both of which negatively impacted Swift’s operational metrics, including overall miles, utilization, and engine idle time. Swift remains committed to continue to focus its efforts on training all driving and non-driving personnel on these new regulations, including the more than 3,000 new employees and owner operators brought into the Swift team from the expansions noted above, with the goal of minimizing the utilization and mileage impact on a go forward basis.
  
Richard Stocking, President and Chief Operating Officer of Swift said, “While we are disappointed by the impact of the extraordinary challenges we experienced this quarter, we remain committed to our goals and confident that the depth and breadth of our service offerings, combined with the fanatic discipline we have instilled in our people, systems and processes will enable us to achieve our stated long-term goal of a 15% compounded annual growth rate on Adjusted EPS between 2012 and 2017.”