SEATTLE, May 02, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPD) today announced first quarter 2017 financial results including the following highlights compared to the same quarter of 2016:

• Diluted Net Earnings Attributable to Shareholders per share (EPS¹) decreased 4% to $0.51
• Net Earnings Attributable to Shareholders decreased 3% to $93 million
• Operating Income decreased 4% to $146 million
• Revenues increased 9% to $1.5 billion
• Net Revenues² increased 2% to $528 million
• Airfreight tonnage volume increased 16% and ocean container volume increased 7%

“Similar to the past few quarters, our people continued to execute well and we again increased volumes and grew market share,” said Jeffrey S. Musser, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We were especially pleased with the performance of our Transcon and customs brokerage teams, as they increased business with existing customers and also brought on new customers, proving our investments in those areas are bearing fruit. We remain deeply committed to the strategy we have laid out that continues to develop and grow our core business, leading to the purposeful growth in market share that we have been seeing. At the same time, we understand that we must continue to make future investments to remain in the market leading position our customers expect from us in terms of execution and innovation. Technology continues to advance at a rapid pace and we expect to remain at the leading edge of those changes.

“As expected and previously noted, we continued to experience the rate pressure that we have seen in recent quarters. Over the long term, we expect this rate volatility to subside and that we will return to more historical pricing patterns. In the meantime, we continue to refine our processes and carefully execute against our strategy to position our company for further growth.”

Bradley S. Powell, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, added, “Operating income as a percentage of net revenue was 28%, which is below our 30% operating benchmark, largely due to volume increases being offset by lower average net rates. Employee headcount and operating expenses increased during the quarter, as we continued to invest in people to handle the increases in freight volumes and to develop and deliver improved technology and processes related to our global network. We will continue to make these important investments in people, processes and technology, as well as to invest in our strategic efforts to explore new areas for long-term profitable growth.”

Expeditors is a global logistics company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The company employs trained professionals in 177 district offices and numerous branch locations located on six continents linked into a seamless worldwide network through an integrated information management system. Services include the consolidation or forwarding of air and ocean freight, customs brokerage, vendor consolidation, cargo insurance, time-definite transportation, order management, warehousing and distribution and customized logistics solutions.

_______________________

¹Diluted earnings attributable to shareholders per share.
²Non-GAAP measure calculated as revenues less directly related operating expenses attributable to the Company's principal services. See reconciliation on the last page of this release.
NOTE:  See Disclaimer on Forward-Looking Statements on the following page of this release.

Expeditors International of Washington, Inc.
First Quarter 2017 Earnings Release, May 2, 2017
Financial Highlights for the Three months ended March 31, 2017 and 2016 (Unaudited)
(in 000's of US dollars except per share data)

_______________________
¹Non-GAAP measure calculated as revenues less directly related operating expenses attributable to the Company's principal services. See reconciliation on the last page of this release.

During the three-month periods ended March 31, 2017 and 2016, we repurchased 1 million and 1.5 million shares of common stock at an average price of $56.49 and $47.79 per share, respectively.

_______________________
Investors may submit written questions via e-mail to: investor@expeditors.com. Questions received by the end of business on May 5, 2017 will be considered in management's 8-K “Responses to Selected Questions” expected to be filed on or about May 12, 2017.

Disclaimer on Forward-Looking Statements:

Certain portions of this release contain forward-looking statements which are based on certain assumptions and expectations of future events that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including comments on future margin expectations, ability to adapt to changing business cycles, ability to increase volumes and manage buy and sell rates, quality growth over the long term, expectations for rate volatility and the current rate environment, driving incremental efficiencies in our processes, investing in people and technology, executing our strategic initiatives, and our ability to remain at the forefront of technological innovation. Actual future results and trends may differ materially from historical results or those projected in any forward-looking statements depending on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, the future success of our business model, our ability to maintain consistent and stable operating results, our ability to perpetuate profits, changes in customer demand for Expeditors’ services caused by a general economic slow-down, changes in global trade volumes, customers’ inventory build-up, decreased consumer confidence, volatility in equity markets, energy and fuel prices, geopolitical changes, foreign exchange rates, regulatory actions or changes or the unpredictable acts of competitors and other risks, risk factors and uncertainties detailed in our Annual Report as updated by our reports on Form 10-Q, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Net Revenues (Non-GAAP measure)

We commonly refer to the term “net revenues” when commenting about our Company and the results of its operations. Net revenues are a Non-GAAP measure calculated as revenues less directly related operations expenses attributable to the Company's principal services. We believe that net revenues are a better measure than are total revenues when analyzing and discussing our effectiveness in managing our principal services since total revenues earned as a freight consolidator must consider the carriers' charges to us for carrying the shipment, whereas revenues earned in other capacities include primarily the commissions and fees earned by us. Net revenue is one of our primary operational and financial measures and demonstrates our ability to concentrate and leverage purchasing power through effective consolidation of shipments from customers utilizing a variety of transportation carriers and optimal routings. Using net revenues also provides a commonality for comparison among various services. The following table presents the calculation of net revenues.