PACCAR REVENUES FALL DESPITE SECOND BEST YEAR EVER

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Heavy-truck manufacturer Paccar’s fourth quarter revenues declined 28 per cent, to US$1.7 billion, compared to $2.3 billion for the same period during 1999.

Net income for the quarter of $62.7 million, or 82 cents a diluted share, compared with net income of $179.9 million, or $2.28 a diluted share earned during the same quarter a year ago.

Results for the fourth quarter 1999 included a $17.5 million after-tax gain from the sale of the company’s retail automotive parts business.

Paccar also says that U.S. and Canadian Class 8 production in first quarter 2001 could be more than 20 per cent lower than in fourth quarter 2000.

The company noted that it “achieved its second-best yearly financial results in its 96-year history and, for the second year in a row, produced over 100,000 trucks worldwide.”

It says the transportation industry in the U.S. was hurt by reduced freight tonnage coupled with higher fuel prices, insurance premiums and interest rates. It noted that “increased fleet operating costs, compounded by a glut of used trucks, reduced industry new truck orders by 42 per cent compared to 1999.”