How can Schneider keep buying carriers out? Last year they bought out a carrier and spent millions. This year they buy M&M millions again. Don't know about your travels but here south of chicago,illinois you don't see their trucks at all any more. Even thought they have a yard in gary,indiana. Use to see their trucks all the time. Not much anymore. How do carriers stay in business with this much debt?
First things first, just because you are not conscious of seeing them, doesn't mean they're not there. Schneider freight volume in the Chicago area is unchanged. Secondly, don't think of the Deboer acquisition as Schneider buying a company. Think of it as a mercy kill. Deboer was less than 18 months from insolvency, it was cheaper for Schneider to buy their equipment to quickly create a trailer pool for a dedicated account than it would have been to try and rebalance the trailer pool. Used equipment prices were still very high, so selling off everything they didn't have a need for (about 1/3 of the equipment) recouped about half the cost. Turning to MLS - $270 million acquisition cost in January 2022. Total revenue for the year was $6 BILLION. Operating ratio of 90%, so $600 million in net profits, $120 million to dividends, another $150 million in equity grant costs so the Schneider family retains control leaves over $300 million in profit that can be spent on acquisitions without incurring any debt.
