C.H. Robinson reports higher profits, revenue in 2024 Q4

January 29, 2025 EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. BB #:100586 today reported financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2024.

Fourth Quarter Highlights:

• Significant year-over-year increase in profitability, driven by disciplined execution, a focus on quality of volume, and improvement in gross profit margin, productivity and operating leverage
• Gross profits increased 10.4% to $672.9 million
• Income from operations increased 71.1% to $183.8 million
• Adjusted operating margin(1) increased 940 basis points to 26.8%
• Adjusted operating margin, excluding restructuring and loss on divestiture(1), increased 1,020 basis points to 26.9%
• Diluted earnings per share (EPS) increased 369.2% to $1.22
• Adjusted EPS(1) increased 142.0% to $1.21
• Cash generated by operations increased by $220.6 million to $267.9 million

Full-Year Key Metrics:

• Gross profits increased 5.8% to $2.7 billion
• Income from operations increased 30.0% to $669.1 million
• Adjusted operating margin(1) increased 440 basis points to 24.2%
• Adjusted operating margin, excluding restructuring and loss on divestiture(1), increased 630 basis points to 27.5%
• Diluted EPS increased 41.9% to $3.86
• Adjusted EPS(1) increased 36.7% to $4.51
• Cash generated by operations decreased by $222.9 million to $509.1 million, due to an increase in net operating working capital related to higher ocean rates

(1) Adjusted operating margin, adjusted operating margin, excluding restructuring and loss on divestiture, and adjusted EPS are non-GAAP financial measures. The same factors described in this release that impacted these non-GAAP measures also impacted the comparable GAAP measures. Refer to pages 12 through 14 for further discussion and GAAP to Non-GAAP Reconciliations.

“We’ve talked extensively over the past year about our new Robinson operating model and the disciplined execution that the model is enabling, as well as how we’re leveraging our industry leading talent and technology to raise the bar in logistics,” said President and Chief Executive Officer, Dave Bozeman. “The benefits of these efforts were never more evident than in the significant year-over-year improvement in our fourth quarter financial results.”

“In what continues to be a historically prolonged freight recession, with market growth in 2024 that did not materialize as had been projected, the difference in our execution versus last year is stark. Our people are embracing the discipline needed to generate higher highs and higher lows across market cycles, resulting in a higher quality of volume, greater productivity, and an expansion of our gross profit and operating profit margins.”

“In a trucking environment where the cost of purchased transportation increased in the fourth quarter due to a decline in industry capacity, our dynamic costing and pricing tools, our revenue management practices and our cost of hire advantage enabled us to provide greater value to our customers, and at the same time, improve our NAST gross profit margin both year-over-year and sequentially,” said Bozeman.

“In our Global Forwarding business, the team has debunked the thesis that C.H. Robinson couldn’t continue to improve productivity when volumes are growing,” Bozeman added. “Throughout 2024, I’ve been impressed with and highly appreciative of the team, as they continued to be nimble and highly engaged with our customers to help them navigate various market disruptions and to provide differentiated service and solutions. As a result, our ocean and air shipments grew each quarter on a year-over-year basis, and each grew more than 5% for the full year. Through improvements in process standardization and automation and embracing the rigor of our operating model, the forwarding team decoupled headcount growth from volume growth, reduced their average headcount for the year more than 10%, and achieved productivity improvement of greater than 15% for the full year.”

“Over the two-year period of 2023 and 2024, we delivered compounded productivity growth of 30% or more in both Global Forwarding and NAST. As we said at our Investor Day in December, we view our productivity as evergreen improvements that we do not expect to give back. Enabled by the operating model disciplines and tools that are being applied across our company, we expect to further advance our productivity as we grow our businesses, including both NAST and Global Forwarding. The productivity improvements have lowered our cost to serve and increased our operating leverage. Combined with our expanded gross margins, this resulted in a 79% increase in our fourth quarter adjusted income from operations.”

“As I reflect on the noteworthy progress that we made in 2024, I’d like to thank the Robinson team for all the work they’ve put in to get to this point. I don’t take their efforts and dedication for granted, and I commend them for helping us get more fit, fast and focused and for embracing the discipline that the new operating model demands. On my first earnings call in August of 2023, I said that I looked forward to leading this great company to new heights and sharing our progress with all of you along our journey. While there’s still more grass to cut, I believe we’re on the right path, and I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made on evolving our strategy and improving our execution by instilling discipline with our new operating model,” Bozeman concluded.

Summary of Fourth Quarter of 2024 Results Compared to the Fourth Quarter of 2023

• Total revenues decreased 0.9% to $4.2 billion, primarily driven by lower volume and pricing in truckload services, partially offset by higher pricing in our ocean services.
• Gross profits increased 10.4% to $672.9 million. Adjusted gross profits increased 10.7% to $684.6 million, primarily driven by higher adjusted gross profit per transaction in our truckload and ocean services.
• Operating expenses decreased 2.0% to $500.8 million. Personnel expenses decreased 2.1% to $354.4 million, primarily due to cost optimization efforts and productivity improvements, partially offset by higher variable compensation. Average employee headcount declined 9.5%. Other selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expenses decreased 2.0% to $146.4 million, primarily due to a $12.6 million favorable adjustment to the loss on the planned divestiture of our Europe Surface Transportation business, which was partially offset by impairments related to reducing our facilities footprint.
• Income from operations totaled $183.8 million, up 71.1% due to both the increase in adjusted gross profit and decrease in operating expenses. Adjusted operating margin(1) of 26.8% increased 940 basis points.
• Interest and other income/expense, net totaled $15.4 million of expense, consisting primarily of $18.8 million of interest expense, which decreased $2.8 million versus last year due to a lower average debt balance and lower variable interest rates, and a $3.3 million net gain from foreign currency revaluation and realized foreign currency gains and losses.
• The effective tax rate in the quarter was 11.4%, compared to 55.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023. The lower rate in the fourth quarter of 2024 was driven by the impact of non-recurring discrete items, higher U.S. tax credits, and increased tax benefit related to stock-based compensation, partially offset by lower foreign tax credits.
• Net income totaled $149.3 million, up 382.1% from a year ago. Diluted EPS of $1.22 increased 369.2%. Adjusted EPS(1) of $1.21 increased 142.0%.

(1) Adjusted operating margin and adjusted EPS are non-GAAP financial measures. The same factors described in this release that impacted these non-GAAP measures also impacted the comparable GAAP measures. Refer to pages 12 through 14 for further discussion and GAAP to Non-GAAP Reconciliations.

Summary of 2024 Year-to-Date Results Compared to 2023

• Total revenues increased 0.7% to $17.7 billion, primarily driven by higher pricing and volume in our ocean services, partially offset by lower pricing and volume in our truckload services.
• Gross profits increased 5.8% to $2.7 billion. Adjusted gross profits increased 6.2% to $2.8 billion, primarily driven by higher adjusted gross profit per transaction in our truckload and ocean services.
• Operating expenses increased 0.3% to $2.1 billion. Personnel expenses decreased 0.6% to $1.5 billion, primarily due to cost optimization efforts and productivity improvements, partially offset by higher variable compensation and higher restructuring charges related to workforce reductions. Average employee headcount declined 10.3%. Other SG&A expenses increased 2.5% to $639.6 million primarily due to a $44.5 million loss on the planned divestiture of our Europe Surface Transportation business. The prior year included $19.6 million of restructuring expenses, primarily related to the divestiture of our operations in Argentina. In addition, other SG&A expenses decreased across several expense categories in 2024.
• Income from operations totaled $669.1 million, up 30.0% from last year, due to the increase in adjusted gross profits, partially offset by the increase in operating expenses. Adjusted operating margin(1) of 24.2% increased 440 basis points.
• Interest and other income/expense, net totaled $89.9 million of expense, primarily consisting of $85.9 million of interest expense, which decreased $4.3 million versus last year, due to a lower average debt balance. The year-to-date results also include a $7.4 million net loss from foreign currency revaluation and realized foreign currency gains and losses.
• The effective tax rate for the full year ended December 31, 2024 was 19.6% compared to 20.5% in the year-ago period. The lower rate in 2024 was driven by the impact of non-recurring discrete items and higher U.S. tax credits, partially offset by higher pre-tax income and lower foreign tax credits.
• Net income totaled $465.7 million, up 43.2% from a year ago. Diluted EPS of $3.86 increased 41.9%. Adjusted EPS(1) of $4.51 increased 36.7%.

(1) Adjusted operating margin and adjusted EPS are non-GAAP financial measures. The same factors described in this release that impacted these non-GAAP measures also impacted the comparable GAAP measures. Refer to pages 12 through 14 for further discussion and GAAP to Non-GAAP Reconciliations.

About C.H. Robinson
C.H. Robinson delivers logistics like no one else. Companies around the world look to us to reimagine supply chains, advance freight technology, and solve logistics challenges—from the simple to the most complex. 83,000 customers and 450,000 contract carriers in our network trust us to manage 37 million shipments and $23 billion in freight annually. Through our unmatched expertise, unrivaled scale, and tailored solutions, we ensure the seamless delivery of goods across industries and continents via truckload, less-than-truckload, ocean, air, and beyond. As a responsible global citizen, we make supply chains more sustainable and proudly contribute millions to the causes that matter most to our employees. For more information, visit us at chrobinson.com (Nasdaq: CHRW).