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[Zephyr]

BTW...bought a bunch of YRCW yesterday and today...average .83. Played them a couple of times. Nice vol. Options also. They reported this morning...a wild beat. lol! see below:

12:37:18 Today CNW YRCW UPDATE:YRC Worldwide Swings To 4Q Pretax Profit On $194M Gain


(Updates throughout with CEO interview, additional background and stock
activity)

By Bob Sechler
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES


YRC Worldwide Inc. (YRCW) posted a big drop in fourth-quarter shipping
volume, but the trucking company said trends are improving as customers return
in the wake of its December brush with bankruptcy.

A gain from a crucial debt-for-equity swap helped YRC swing to a pretax
profit in the quarter, offsetting a 41% slump in revenue. The company said
Friday that it's still calculating its after-tax results.

Shares of YRC were up about 1.5% at 84 cents in recent trading.

YRC, the largest independent less-than-truckload carrier in the U.S., said
per-day volume in its national segment--its biggest unit--fell about 40% in the
quarter, while volume in its regional segment was down about 20%.

Less-than-truckload shippers consolidate loads from multiple customers onto
single trucks.

YRC Chief Executive Bill Zollars said a sizable chunk of the fourth-quarter
drop in volume was attributable to customer jitters regarding YRC's financial
condition, as well as "noise" and pricing pressure from competitors hoping to
win business at YRC's expense.

"There's no question that there were people doing crazy things in the
marketplace to make us go away," Zollars said in an interview. "It didn't
work."

After numerous delays, YRC completed the note exchange in late December,
removing $464 million in debt from its balance sheet, or about a third of its
total. YRC had warned that it might seek bankruptcy protection if the swap
wasn't successful.

"We have been pleased to see many of those customers returning to our
network," Zollars said.

He said YRC expects to post a profit before interest, taxation, depreciation
and amortization beginning in the second quarter. He based the forecast on
factors such as improving volume trends and what he called a lower break-even
point for YRC in the wake of steep cost cuts and efficiency gains.

Zollars said he expects YRC's shipping volumes to show gains in the first
quarter, compared to the year-ago period.

Still, the company's financial challenges aren't over. Among them, Zollars
said YRC is "in discussion with investors" to raise $45 million to retire bonds
that weren't tendered in the debt swap and come due in April.

YRC's fourth-quarter pretax profit came in at $49.8 million, compared with a
year-earlier pretax loss of $353.3 million. The latest results included a $194
million note-exchange gain, while year-earlier results included a $200 million
write-down.

Revenue slumped to $1.15 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had
expected revenue of $1.22 billion.

Con-way Inc. (CNW), which posted fourth-quarter results late Thursday, was
among the apparent beneficiaries of YRC's customer losses, with per-day volume
in Con-way's less-than-truckload segment climbing 21%. But Con-way's yield, a
broad measure of pricing, was off nearly 12%.

Con-way shares were up 2.4% in recent trading at $29.01.

Con-way acknowledged last year that it was aggressively cutting prices to win
volume, although it said at the time that it simply aimed to fill up its trucks
amid overall slack demand and wasn't targeting any specific competitors in
particular.

On Friday, Con-way Chief Executive Doug Stotlar told analyst on a
post-earnings conference call that he now hopes to raise prices while holding
on to as much of the volume gains as possible.
-By Bob Sechler, Dow Jones Newswires; 512-394-0285; [e-mail]

(John Kell contributed to this report)


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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-05-10 1237ET

Copyright (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

12:37 020510