Truck and equipment manufacturer Paccar Inc. — whose brands include Peterbilt, Kenworth, and Braden winches and hoists — reported a 38 percent increase in earnings in the first quarter of 2015 compared with the same period in 2014.
Based in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, Wash., Paccar posted earnings of $378.4 million, or $1.06 per diluted share, in the first three months of 2015, according to a news release. That compared with $273.9 million, or 77 cents per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2014.
The company’s 2015 first quarter deliveries of trucks in Canada and the U.S. totalled 24,400, the Seattle Times reported. That was a 31 percent increase over the 2014 first quarter tally.
Worldwide, the company delivered 38,300 trucks in the first quarter of 2015, a 20 percent increase over the same period last year.
“The improvement reflects increased truck deliveries in the U.S. and Canada due to a good economy, record freight demand and expansion of fleet capacity,” The Times quoted Paccar CEO Ron Armstrong during a conference call with analysts.
The company’s first quarter net sales and financial services revenues were 10 percent higher at $4.83 billion in 2015 compared with $4.38 billion in 2014’s first quarter, the news release said.
The release noted that 2015 class 8 truck sales in the U.S. and Canada are expected to total 260,000 to 290,000. That compares with 250,000 trucks sold in 2014.
Armstrong said industry truck orders for the last two quarters in Canada and the U.S. were the highest since 2006, The Times reported.
