C.H. Robinson Q12022 revenue up 42% on higher pricing, volume

Nasdaq-listed global logistics platform C.H. Robinson reported a 42 percent in total revenue to $6.8 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022, driven primarily by both higher pricing and higher volume across services.

Adjusted gross profit increased 29 percent to $906 million, adjusted operating margin increased 630 basis points to 38.1 percent, diluted earnings per share (EPS) increased 60 percent to $2.05, according to an official statement.

"In our first quarter, we delivered record quarterly profits," says Bob Biesterfeld, President and Chief Executive Officer, C.H. Robinson. "Sequential improvement was driven by significant operating margin expansion in our North American Surface Transportation (NAST)) business as we improved the health of our contractual truckload business, continued to grow our truckload volume, and improved the profitability of our less-than truckload (LTL) business. Our global forwarding team continued delivering excellent service to our customers and collaborating with our carriers, driving more business to our platform. And finally, our Robinson Fresh, Managed Services and Europe Surface Transportation businesses all improved their top line growth and operating income on a year-over-year basis."

NAST business revenue increased 28 percent to $4 billion on higher truckload and LTL pricing and increase in truckload shipments. NAST adjusted gross profit increased 20 percent to $506 million.

Global forwarding revenue nearly doubled (909 percent) to $2.2 billion on higher pricing and higher volume in both ocean and air services, reflecting the strong demand environment, market share gains, and strained capacity. Adjusted gross profit increased 50 percent to $322 million.

"Ocean adjusted gross profit increased 64 percent driven by a 52 percent increase in adjusted gross profit per shipment and a 7 percent increase in volume. Adjusted gross profit in air increased 34 percent on 10 percent increase in metric tonne shipped and a 21 percent increase in adjusted gross profit per metric tonne."

2022 outlook
"As questions linger about the impact on global economic growth from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, higher energy prices and inflationary pressures, among other impacts, we believe that our global suite of multimodal services, our growing digital platform, and our resilient and flexible non-asset-based business model will continue to deliver strong financial results through the cycle," Biesterfeld said. "We will continue to benefit from our product and technology investments while delivering on opportunities to integrate our services to help our customers solve their complex global supply chain issues. I'm excited by the initial results from the enhancements that were rolled out in February for our Navisphere Carrier product. We'll continue to build on our customer-centric commitment by continuing to invest in smart, customer and carrier-focused products, and we'll launch several new products that we believe will benefit our customers and carriers as we continue to build out the most powerful supply chain platform."

The company returned $251 million to shareholders in Q12022 with $177.7 million as repurchases of common stock and $72.9 million in cash dividends.

Capital expenditure totaled $26 million in the quarter. Capital expenditure for 2022 is expected to be $90-$100 million on technology investments in the digital platform.