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Activist investor seeks changes to YRC board

Barna Capital has “complete trust” in the current executive management team

Image: Jim Allen/FreightWaves

In an amended 13D filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, activist investor Barna Capital Group stated that it was moving forward with previously announced plans to make changes to the YRC Worldwide (NASDAQ: YRCW) board.

Barna Capital is seeking to “replace three members of the board who have not provided the needed guidance for the company to achieve decent operating results.” The firm wants to replace current board seats with “individuals who possess extensive experience in running a successful transportation company.”

In the filing, Barna Capital stated shares of YRCW have fallen more than 90% during the tenure of the unnamed board members that the group is seeking to replace. Additionally, the firm noted that the board was seeking to be paid in cash versus equity-based compensation and that total compensation for board seats has increased more than 200% since those individuals joined the board.

Further, the firm stated that it “would like to see some changes in middle and lower management who will drive better operational results.”


Lastly, Barna Capital reiterated its confidence in the YRC’s executive management team. “We have complete trust in the executive management team and believe that they are on the right track to turn the company towards a brighter future.”

The filing showed that Barna Capital increased its stake in the less-than-truckload carrier to 5.4%, up from 5.2% at the time of the original filing on March 17.

The date of Barna Capital’s original filing was shortly after YRC provided a lackluster intra-quarter update on March 13. In that press release, the carrier announced that tonnage per day had declined 0.7% year-over-year during January and February and that revenue per hundredweight, or yield, was 4.2% lower. The firm noted that YRC’s results, which included both “softer pricing while volumes fell at the same time,” were not as strong as results reported by other carriers.   

The original filing also called out management and the board for failing to “motivate employees, optimize operations and guide the company to strong financial results.”


The proposed board changes do not impact the two seats held by the Teamsters Workers Union.

In an 8-k filing on April 8, YRC disclosed that it had amended its credit agreement. A key provision in the amendment is the waiver of a financial covenant for the remainder of 2020, requiring last 12 months’ consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $200 million.

YRC’s fourth quarter financial release showed the carrier generated $210.6 million in 2019 adjusted EBITDA, ending the year with $902.8 million in debt. The carrier closed the books on 2019 with $80.4 million in liquidity compared to $203.8 million at the end of 2018.

YRCW’s shares are up more than 10% in midday trading on the news.

30 Comments

  1. Little Stevie Burelson

    YRC’s Ft Wayne IN end of line terminal needs to close. The terminal manager has little mans syndrome and his management style is getting in your face making threats and yells constantly. Shut the doors to this toxic environment.

  2. Brant J Adam

    Nice to see somebody finally seeing what a majority of the work force has been seeing for quite some time. When you look at the company you have worked a good part of your life for and was proud to be there, turned into a company that a lot of us thought is trying to put itself out of business for what ever reason you know a drastic change was needed. I’ve worked at the Charlotte facility for over 23 years and I’m Union but management wise we’ve seen some of the best thrown under the bus.Its what our business has turned into.I hope this is a snow ball rolling down hill and it gathers the rest of the dead weight. Time to make it that job you had respect for again!

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  4. Steveflorence

    I worked for 15 years at roadway express and then 10 years for Yrc after it was bought out by yellow freight went down hill quick. Miss managed in the worst way. Put people in charge in Indianapolis that don’t have a clue. Some of the laziest people that I every worked with. Roadways management would never put up with that. They were strick and hard to work for but at lease they ran a tight ship. I retired in January. I like to thank roadway express for at least 15 good years.

    1. David Terry

      I guess its what terminal you worked at when we merged I retired from Yellow Frt terminal 511 in Dallas Tx where they replaced the Yellow managment with Roadway management then things went to crap we lost half of our customers they did away with our computer system and replaced it with Roadways it was so outdated that customers could not track their shipments and the Roadway equipment that was merged with our equipment should have been taken off the road

  5. Mike Radatz

    To little to late. That’s my opinion. Management has DESTROYED MOST EMPLOYEES ADDITUD.
    Started at Yellow when the company was run by trucking people, now I am at Holland.
    Different company same b.s.

  6. Kyle A Hurt

    Memphis terminal manager Glen Lacy is not exactly a sharpie either. His problem is he don’t know much but won’t allow you to tell him what you knows.Lack of knowledge is his definently his dilemma. He has the moral so low at 431 one would think he’s competing with 511, which is the worst of all..They are notorious for holding drivers for 24hrs just to send drivers home with empties trailers. I’m willing to bet if you get rid of Lacy at 431 terminal and Daniel, Sam,and Jimmy at 511 terminal YRC profit margins would go up and all other misfit would raise there performance level… Don’t care if you use my email address or not, I stand for something and fall for nothing…

  7. David Heafner

    That’s great, it’s about time someone came in and get rid of the dead weight. It’s like runny into a brick wall “work your butt off only for failure” would like to see them take a really close look a all levels of management like Charlotte our terminal doesn’t have any real experience runny a terminal. She doesn’t have a clue if they would show her the road, that would make a difference in the employee’s a lot happier addatue, Yrc is a good company just bad management in the wrong places you know the buddy, buddy club

    1. The working people and voice of freight

      Cut from the top and go all the way down. If they dont know freight fire there ass . If they keep doing the change of operations the same thing every time and fail they should fire there ass. The swindling in money has got to stop . We have to put the driver and dock workers first ones again. The drivers and dock workers are the hart of this job .

  8. Noble1 suggests SMART truck drivers should UNITE & collectively cut out the middlemen from picking truck driver pockets ! UNITE , CONQUER , & YOU'LL PROSPER ! IMHO

    Quote:

    “activist investor Barna Capital Group stated that it was moving forward with previously announced plans to make changes to the YRC Worldwide (NASDAQ: YRCW) board.”

    BRAVO ! That’s the way to do it and create prosperous change !

    Too bad truck drivers don’t think among the same line . If they were to UNITE and act as activists to create a massive change in the trucking industry , they too could be better off and be prosperous beyond belief !

    In my humble opinion ………….

Comments are closed.

Todd Maiden

Based in Richmond, VA, Todd is the finance editor at FreightWaves. Prior to joining FreightWaves, he covered the TLs, LTLs, railroads and brokers for RBC Capital Markets and BB&T Capital Markets. Todd began his career in banking and finance before moving over to transportation equity research where he provided stock recommendations for publicly traded transportation companies.