Q12008transcript

FINAL TRANSCRIPT

R - Q1 2008 Ryder System, Inc. Earnings Conference Call
Event Date/Time: Apr. 23. 2008 / 11:00AM ET

www.streetevents.com Contact Us
© 2008 Thomson Financial. Republished with permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the
prior written consent of Thomson Financial.

FINAL TRANSCRIPT
Apr. 23. 2008 / 11:00AM, R - Q1 2008 Ryder System, Inc. Earnings Conference Call

CORPORATE PARTICIPANTS
Bob Brunn
Ryder - VP of IR and Public Affairs
Greg Swienton
Ryder - Chairman and CEO
Robert Sanchez
Ryder - EVP, CFO
Tony Tegnelia
Ryder - President of US Fleet Management Solutions

CONFERENCE CALL PARTICIPANTS
Alex Brand
Stephens, Inc. - Analyst
John Mims
BB&T Capital Markets - Analyst
Jon Langeneld
Robert W. Baird - Analyst
John Larkin
Stifel Nicolaus - Analyst
Ed Wolfe
Wolfe Research - Analyst
Art Hatfield
Morgan Keegan - Analyst
Todd Fowler
KeyBanc Capital Markets - Analyst
David Campbell
Thomson Davis & Company - Analyst

PRESENTATION
Operator
Good morning, and welcome to Ryder System, Inc. first quarter 2008 earnings release conference call. All lines are in a listen
only mode until after the presentation. (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS) Today's call is being recorded.

I would like to introduce Mr. Bob Brunn, Vice President of Investor Relations and Public Affairs for Ryder. Mr. Brunn, you may
begin.

Bob Brunn - Ryder - VP of IR and Public Affairs
Thanks very much. Good morning, and welcome to Ryder's first quarter 2008 earnings conference call. I would like to begin
with a reminder that in this presentation you will hear some forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject
to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations due to changes in
economic, business, competitive, market, political and regulatory factors. More detailed information about these factors is
contained in this morning's earnings release and in Ryder's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

www.streetevents.com Contact Us 1

FINAL TRANSCRIPT

Presenting on today's call are Greg Swienton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Robert Sanchez, Executive Vice President
and Chief Financial Officer. Additionally, Tony Tegnelia, President of US Fleet Management Solutions, is on the call today and
available for questions following the presentation. With that, let me turn it over to Greg.

Greg Swienton - Ryder - Chairman and CEO
Thank you, Bob, and good morning, everyone. This morning, we'll recap our first quarter 2008 results, review our asset
management area and provide our current outlook for the business. After our initial remarks, we'll then open up the call for
questions, so let me begin with our first quarter results.

In the overview, for those of you following on the Power Point, we'll start at Page 4. Reported net earnings per diluted share
were $0.96 for the first quarter 2008, as compared to $0.84 in the prior year period. Earnings for the quarter exceed the forecast
we provided on our last earnings call of $0.84 to $0.87. The better than anticipated performance came in our Fleet Management
Solutions segment through continued contractual revenue growth, improved commercial rental operations, and from our used
vehicle sales results.

Total revenue for the company was down 3% in the quarter, due to the previously announced change from gross to net revenue
reporting for subcontracted transportation with one supply chain customer. Operating revenue, which excludes FMS fuel and
all subcontracted transportation revenue, was up 5% due to contractual revenue growth, as well as favorable foreign exchange
rate movements.

Fleet Management total revenue was up 12%, while operating revenue was up 5% versus the prior year. Contractual revenue,
which includes both full service lease and contract maintenance, was up 6%. Lease and contract maintenance revenue growth
reflects our sales activity over the past few quarters, while lease revenue also benefited from the Pollock and Lily acquisitions.
Full service lease revenue was up 6%. Lease growth reflects our organic sales activity over the past few quarters, as well as the
impact of the Pollock and Lily acquisitions.

Contract maintenance revenue was up 9%, reflecting organic sales activity and the conversion of customers from the private
fleet market. Total FMS revenue was impacted by a 31% increase in fuel revenue, reflecting higher fuel costs passed through
to customers. Foreign exchange rate movements accounted for 1 percentage point of total FMS revenue growth. Global
commercial rental revenue was up 1%, representing the first time in six quarters we have seen rental revenue growth.

U.S. rental revenue was modestly down in the quarter, but the rate of decline slowed and the domestic decline was more than
offset by growth in the Canadian and UK markets. Gains from the sale of used vehicles were down by $2.6 million, due to a lower
volume of used vehicle sales -- used vehicles sold. Gains were better than our forecast however, and the decline in gains were
largely offset by lower carrying costs on a smaller used vehicle inventory.

Net before-tax earnings in Fleet Management were up by 13%. Fleet Management earnings as a percent of operating revenue
were up by 90 basis points to 12.2%. FMS earnings benefited from contractual business performance, lower sales and marketing
costs, and the two recently closed acquisitions.

Turning to the Supply Chain Solutions segment on Page 5, total revenue was down 27% due to a change to net revenue reporting
on subcontracted transportation business, with one customer that was previously reported on a gross basis. This reporting
change did not impact operating revenue or earnings. Operating revenue was up by 6%, reflecting the impact of foreign
exchange rates, higher fuel costs, and both new and expanded customer contracts.

Growth was partially offset by the previously disclosed closure of a significant automotive plant during the second quarter of
2007, and reduced activity with certain high tech customers. First quarter net before-tax earnings, in Supply Chain were down
27% versus the prior year. Net before-tax earnings as a percent of operating revenue were down 120 basis points to 2.4%.


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

Supply Chain's earnings were below our expectations and were impacted by reduced activity with certain high tech customers,
investments in sales, marketing and technology initiatives, facility relocation costs, and the impact of an automotive supplier
strike. SCS earnings were also hurt by higher fuel costs, primarily with one customer, due to a timing issue in passing on fuel
cost increases. This customer's contract has been modified effective April 1st to mitigate this issue going forward.

In Dedicated Contract Carriage, total revenue and operating revenue were down 1% due to non-renewed contracts, partially
offset by higher fuel costs. Net before-tax earnings in DCC were up by 9%, and as a percent to operating revenue, were up by
80 basis points to 8.4%. Earnings increased in the quarter due to improved operating performance and lower safety and insurance
costs. Page 6 highlights key financial statistics for the first quarter.

Operating revenue was up by 5%, mainly due to growth in multi-year contractual business. Earnings per share were up by 14%,
reflecting net earnings growth of 9% and a lower average number of shares outstanding due to share repurchases. The average
number of diluted shares outstanding for the quarter was down by three million shares to 58.2 million.

In December 2008, we announced both a $300 million discretionary share repurchase program and a $2 million -- two million
share antidilutive repurchase program. No shares were purchased under these programs until after the release of our fourth
quarter 2007 earnings on February 1, 2008, due to our company policy prohibiting such purchases during a blackout period
for the company.

During the first quarter, we repurchased 840,000 shares at an average price of $59.02 per share under the $300 million program,
and we purchased an additional 751,000 shares at an average price of $58.83, under the two million antidilutive share program.
Combined purchases under the two programs totaled almost 1.6 million shares during the quarter, and as of March 31, there
were 57.5 million shares outstanding. First quarter 2008 tax rate was 39.1% compared to the prior year tax rate of 39.6%.

Return on capital, which is calculated on a rolling 12-month basis, was 7.5% versus 7.8% in the prior year's first quarter. Return
on capital was up, however, from 7.4% in the fourth quarter 2007, reflecting the actions we've taken to reduce the size of the
rental and used vehicle fleets. We expect these comparisons to continue to improve throughout the year. I would like to now
turn to Page 7 to discuss our first quarter results for the individual business segments.

In Fleet Management Solutions, operating revenue was up by 5%, driven by 6% contractual revenue growth, partially offset by
1% growth in the smaller commercial rental product line. Total revenue increased by 12% due both to this operating revenue
growth and higher fuel costs passed through to customers. Total FMS revenue also included a 1% favorable foreign exchange
impact. Fleet Management Solutions earnings were up by $10.6 million, or 13%.

In lease, we continued solid revenue growth as a result of new vehicles being placed in revenue earnings service related to sales
made in recent quarters. Miles driven per vehicle per workday on U.S. lease power units were up 5% versus the first quarter
2007 and were seasonally down 2% as compared to last quarter. Contract maintenance continued the strong performance
we've seen in recent periods. Contract maintenance revenue growth of 9% largely reflects continued success in sales of this
asset light product line to the private fleet market.

U.S. commercial rental utilization on power units was 69.4%, up 520 basis points from 64.2% in the first quarter 2007, due to
our actions to reduce the size and change the mix of the rental fleet. This is the second consecutive quarter of improving rental
utilization comparisons. U.S. rental pricing on power units was stable in the quarter compared to the first quarter 2007. This
represents an improvement from the fourth quarter 2007, where rental pricing was down by around 3%.

In Supply Chain Solutions, total revenue was down 27% in the quarter, due to the change from the gross to the net revenue
reporting, I previously discussed. SCS operating revenue excludes subcontracted transportation and therefore excludes the
impact of this reporting change. SCS operating revenue was up 6%, reflecting the impact of foreign exchange rates, higher fuel
costs, as well as new and expanded customer contracts.


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

Operating revenue growth was partially offset by the previously disclosed second quarter 2007 shutdown of an automotive
plant that generated $55 to $60 million of annual revenue, as well as reduced activity with certain high tech customers. SCS net
before-tax earnings were down $3.1 million for the quarter. Earnings were negatively impacted by several items, including
reduced activity with certain high tech customers, higher fuel costs, primarily with one customer, and investments in sales,
marketing and technology initiatives. SCS earnings were also down due to facility relocation costs and the impact of an automotive
supplier strike.

In dedicated contract carriage, total revenue and operating revenue were both down by 1% due to non-renewed contracts,
partially offset by higher fuel costs. ECC's net before-tax earnings improved by $900,000, or 9%, due to improved operating
performance and lower safety and insurance costs.

Our total central support service costs were up by $2.4 million, due partly to increased information technology investments. A
portion of central support costs allocated to the business segments and included in segment net earnings was down by $800,000.
The unallocated share, which is shown separately on the P & L, increased by 3.2 million. Net earnings were $56.1 million, up by
$4.8 million or 9%.

And at this point, I'll turn the call over to Robert Sanchez, our Chief Financial Officer to cover several items beginning with capital
expenditures.

Robert Sanchez - Ryder - EVP, CFO
Thanks, Greg. Turning to Page 8, first quarter gross capital expenditures totaled $332 million, down by $143 million from the
prior year. Capital expenditures were generally in line with our forecast for the quarter. Full service lease vehicle spending was
down by over $100 million, lease spending was elevated in the prior year due to the prebuy of 2006 model year engines, which
continued to be placed into service with customers in early 2007.

While we continue to see some customers shrink their existing fleet sizes when their leases expire, and also to defer some
decisions on new sales opportunities due to the soft economy, at the same time we continued to sign new outsourcing contracts
with lease customers. As a result at this time, we do not expect a material change from our full year lease capital expenditures
forecast. We may see some switch from new vehicle orders into term extensions with existing vehicles, due to customer
uncertainty in the market.

As such, while our lease revenue forecast remains on track for the year, our capital expenditures may be marginally lower than
originally forecast. Commercial rental vehicle spending was down by $45 million from the prior year and was in line with our
forecast. We realized proceeds primarily from sales of revenue-earning equipment of $75 million, down by $19 million from the
prior year, reflecting fewer units sold as a result of having a smaller used vehicle inventory.

Including proceeds from sales, net capital expenditures were $257 million, down by $124 million from the prior year. We also
spent $93 million on Fleet Management's acquisition of Lily in the northeast U.S. Turning to the next page, you'll see that we
generated cash from operating activity of $300 million in the first quarter, up by $47 million from the prior year. This increase
was due primarily to reduced working capital needs and increased depreciation. The change in working capital reflects improved
collections on accounts receivable.

Increased depreciation was largely due to foreign exchange rate changes and spending on new contractual lease vehicles in
recent periods. Including the impact of our used vehicle sales activity, we generated $393 million of total cash, up by $29 million
from the prior year. This strong recurring cash generation is important to the business, as it supports our future anticipated
growth in assets under management.


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

Cash payments for capital expenditures were $274 million, down by $219 million versus the prior year. Including our capital
spending, the company generated $119 million of positive free cash flow this quarter, up by $242 million from last year. On
Page 10, you can see the total obligations have increased modestly compared to the year end 2007.

The increased debt level is largely due to spending on contractual vehicles, acquisitions, and net stock repurchases. Ryder's
total obligations of approximately $3 billion are up by $19 million as compared to the year end 2007. Balance sheet debt to
equity was 149% as compared to 147%, at the end of the prior year. Total obligations as a percent of equity at the end of the
quarter were 159% versus 157%, at the end of 2007.

Our leverage ratios, of course, do not include the impact of the recently announced Gator Leasing acquisition, as this deal is
not expected to close until May. We also continue to have a healthy pipeline of acquisition candidates. We continue to have a
significant balance sheet capacity as the total obligations to equity ratio of 159 is well below our target of 250 to 300, for our
current mix of businesses. We remain committed to increasing our financial leverage in a balanced way over the next few years
through organic growth, acquisition, and share repurchase.

Our equity balance at the end of the quarter was almost 1.9 billion, down by 19 -- by 14 million versus the prior year. Our ending
equity balance reflects net share repurchases and dividends, which more than offset our net earnings.

At this point, I'll hand the call back over to Greg to provide an asset management update.

Thanks, Robert. Page 12 summarizes the key results in our U.S. asset management area. At quarter end, our used vehicle inventory
for sale was approximately 5300 vehicles, down 17% from 6400 units, at the end of the fourth quarter. Used inventories were
almost half the nearly 10,000 units we held for sale at the end of the first quarter last year. The lower used fleet balance reflects
the actions we took last year to bring inventories down and in line with our targeted levels.

We sold approximately 4900 used vehicles during the quarter, down 19% from the prior year, and in line with our expectations.
Because our inventories are now more in line with our targets, we've returned to our normal process of selling the large majority
of our vehicles at retail prices through our own used vehicle sales centers. Proceeds per vehicle on sales of used tractors were
up by 1%, while proceeds per vehicle on sales of used trucks were down by 12%, as compared to the first quarter last year.

Comparisons versus the fourth quarter were more favorable, however, with tractor proceeds up 11% and truck proceeds up
2%, largely due to the reducing the amount of wholesale activity this quarter. At the end of the quarter, approximately 6500
units were classified as no longer earning revenue. This number is down by 900 units from the fourth quarter, primarily due to
a decrease in the number of units available for sale.

For those of you who follow the statistics, starting with this quarter, we've changed the definition of no longer earning units to
be more inclusive. These units now include all vehicles available for sale and units that have not earned any revenue in the past
30 days. Our total U.S. commercial rental fleet in the first quarter, was down on average by 10% from the prior year, with the
power fleet down by 12%. The rental fleet reductions we made last year have accomplished their objective by significantly
improving rental utilization levels by over 500 basis points in this first quarter versus the prior year. As I mentioned earlier, this
is the second consecutive quarter of significantly improved rental utilization levels.

Turning to Page 14, we are increasing our full year 2008 EPS forecast from a previous range of $4.50 to $4.65 to a new range of
$4.55 to $4.75. We're also establishing a second quarter EPS forecast of $1.10 to $1.20. Our forecast contemplates the potential
continuation of current automotive strikes in our Supply Chain business.


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

The impact of one strike was fairly modest in the first quarter, as it was limited to one auto supplier and impacted a limited
number of facilities during the quarter. The potential impact on the second quarter will be more significant if the strikes continue,
as there are now several strikes under way and the number of facilities impacted has expanded. As a result, the low end of our
forecast range includes the impact of current auto strikes continuing through the end of the second quarter. The upper end of
the forecast range assumes the strikes will be concluded by the end of April.

In either case, we're pleased to increase our full year forecast range by $0.05 to $0.10 and believe this is particularly noteworthy
in the current market environment, which is severely impacting many other companies and certainly those in the transport
industry. As with our original business plan, our current forecast does not assume an improving economic or transportation
environment.

Our strong results and expectations for the year are driven by continued sales of new long-term contractual business, improving
results in our commercial rental and used vehicle operations versus a very difficult 2007, the successful implementation of the
recently closed acquisitions, the continuation of our share repurchase program, and continued focused tactical execution by
our teams. That does conclude our prepared remarks for the morning, and at this time, I'll turn it over to the operator, who can
open up the line for questions.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Operator
Thank you. (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS) Our first question today is from Alex Brand. You may ask your question, and please state
your company name.

Alex Brand - Stephens, Inc. - Analyst
Hi, Stephens, Inc. Good morning guys.

Good morning, Alex.

Greg, I guess I am curious on the fleet, I think you said 5% increase in miles per vehicle per day. What do you think accounts for
the increased utilization despite the economy? I guess that seems sort of contrary to what I would think would be happening.

I believe that customers who lease their fleets also have other supplemental activities that they engage in. It could be commercial
rental from us. It could be from other, more common carriers, but when you get to the core, I think that when they are leasing
equipment, that is the equipment that they are first going to be obviously committed to utilize and not want to park.

So I think when, when they are trying to focus on and make sure they do a good job of efficiency and delivering products and
services to their customers, probably even managing down some of the quantity of pieces of equipment they are moving due
to costs and fuel prices, that the fleets they have, I believe, they are trying to use to their fullest capacity. That would be my
impression and, Tony, if you thought anything different, you might add from FMS as well.


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

Tony Tegnelia - Ryder - President of US Fleet Management Solutions
No, I think that's very clear. What you're seeing, and as we had discussed in the last couple of quarters, a number of our customers
have requested fleet size reductions at the time of renewal and as a result, the remaining units left in their fleet, they are running
at much, much higher utilization rates, and that's why you're seeing the average mileage really grow. They are very, very cost
competitive, very, very cost conscious, and they are driving those economies on basically smaller fleets.

Okay. Now, on the currency, I think you talked -- you quantified the impact on your revenue. Is there any impact to be aware of
on operating profit?

I -- go ahead. Robert?

The impact is slightly under a $0.01. Is the impact to profit on -- of FX.

Okay. And, Robert, you talked about CapEx, that you didn't think it would change much based on the current plan, but your
free cash flow was a pretty big number for the first quarter. Is that -- is it realistic to think you can do that kind of free cash flow
on a quarterly basis in '08?

Yeah, we're sticking to what we had in the original plan, and really what we're expecting is obviously as the year goes on, CapEx
will increase per what we had in the plan, with the exception of we are seeing some more term extensions. You can see on the
asset management charts in the back, that we saw an increase in term extensions, which could modestly bring down some of
the lease CapEx early in the year.

Okay, and I think you said in your comments that the -- you still had a pretty healthy acquisition pipeline out there, and I'm
wondering, on the stock buyback, I mean it's a discretionary plan, so are you -- is there a commitment to spend the $300 million,
or are stocks moving up a lot? Does that kind of mean you pare back the buyback program a bit?

No, we're, remember, our goal here is to really get to our target leverage over the next 2 1/2 years, so we are going to continue
with that program. We do have enough, as you know, we've got enough head room to do the share repurchase and the
acquisitions that we've got in the pipeline. We know we can do also. So we're not planning on paring that back in the next few
months.


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

Okay. That's all I have. Great quarter, guys. Thanks a lot.

Thank you.

Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from John Mims. You may ask your question, and please state your company name.

John Mims - BB&T Capital Markets - Analyst
It's BB&T Capital Markets. I'm standing in for John Barnes. Good morning, guys.

Good morning.

Kind of following up on Alex's comment a little bit, if you look at the interest expense, it was down about 5% year-over-year,
despite the increased leverage. Is that a product as kind of the financial markets and lower interest rates now, or is that something
we should kind of look at going forward?

Yeah, it's a combination of the volume being down, debt levels being down from last year same time, and the rate. It's about,
a little bit more than 50/50 on the rate side, so I would say about 60% of it is coming from rate and the 40% is coming from
volumes.

Okay, okay. That makes sense. And can y'all provide us some details on the Gator acquisition, what sort of revenue stream you're
looking at or any integration issues you may see?

It's been our -- as has been our process, we really don't comment in greater detail until we actually close it, which we expect to
happen in May. We've revealed the number of units at about 2300 in the number of customers. We don't obviously really expect
any integration issues.

We're both Miami-based companies, the facilities are not only here in South Florida, but throughout the state, and I think has
been reflected in the most recent acquisitions we did with Lily and Pollock. We expect those to be well and smoothly integrated.


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

These are things that we do, and it's fairly, fairly efficient for us to work those into our existing network, which is one of the key
points of the value of these acquisitions.

Right, perfect. So no, like, nagging, IT stuff on the horizon or any of that?

No, certainly not, no.

Great, great. And one last question, you look -- I saw on your chart on Page 22, there was kind of an uptick of early terminations
from last year. Is that, a risk that we may see more of if the economy stays weak, or, is that just kind of a one-time thing that, is
a nonissue?

For those of you who may not have that page right in front of you, in the supplement of the Power Point, in the appendix on
Page 22, as he's referring to, one of the categories is early terminations. Before I may ask Tony to comment on that, what you'll
also notice is the big uptick on the previous two categories of redeployments and extensions. And that's a big plus, because it
means that we're maintaining a revenue stream, we're getting the equipment extended and still into service.

The early terminations are up a little from last year, but they are certainly not at the levels that they were in '04 and '03 even.
So that just gives you a little bit of perspective. Tony, if you want to add anything on the question, please go ahead.

Yes. As I had said earlier in the call, and as we also said in the call for the last quarter, we are working with a number of customers
for some of their requests for fleet reductions during this economic environment, and we typically do that on a very select basis
in exchange for other future commitments with those customers. But what is very important here is we've been extremely
successful in redeploying a number of those units within the lease fleet. And you can see our redeploys are up really handsomely
quite as well.

So, we have not had a difficult time redeploying those units and what we find is we solidify our relationship with those customers
who may be in a more challenged environment today, but also maintaining a revenue stream with other customers on the
redeploys and saving the capital relative to the cost of a new piece of equipment. So we feel so far in the marketplace and even
on our balance sheet returns, it's been a win-win for us and we are not really particularly concerned about that.

Okay, okay, great. I appreciate the explanation and congratulations on a nice quarter.

Thank you.


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from Jon Langenfeld. You may ask your question, and please state your company name.

Jon Langeneld - Robert W. Baird - Analyst
Robert W. Baird. Good morning, Greg and all.

Good morning, Jon.

Can you talk about kind of the upside in the quarter. Looks to me Supply Chain, as you mentioned, came in a little bit less than
expected, so you probably on FMS probably got $0.12, $0.13 of upside there. Half of it being used truck sales, better performance
there, half of it being contractual business. I guess first off, am I characterizing that right?

Roughly, yes. I think that the big positives come from several things going on, particularly in Fleet Management. You got
contractual revenue growth, which continues.

In addition, the acquisitions that we had already announced, Lily and Pollock, are contributing and doing well. Commercial
rental, we've got the fleet sized right. The utilization is good. That's not a big anchor we're dragging anymore, and better than
forecasted used vehicle sales.

So especially we've got the right quantity, we've got the expected forecast, and as I mentioned in the comments on the call,
the pricing is better because we're doing more of our retailing through our used vehicle sales centers. So I think you, what you
characterize that principally correct and I would just reiterate those.

Sure, okay. And then on the commercial rental side, I'm assuming that has changed from a year ago being a profit drag to this
year, I guess you're at close to 70% utilization. That's a positive profit contributor. Any reason to think that that would reverse
itself here in the near term?

Well, first, that is a very correct assumption. On the -- whether it's a drag or a gain, and it is, compared to last year, a huge
difference, as you pointed out.

We don't see anything right now that would cause that to change. You know, we went into this year and we've reiterated again
today that we're not counting on any economic recovery, so it's kind of status quo, still a tough environment, but we believe
that as much as anything through our own efforts and trying to balance the right quantity of fleet with the type and size of
vehicles and the right markets, that, we expect to continue to still make progress. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't forecast any change
from what we see from that right now.


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

And would you look at that at all, probably too early to tell, but, roughly flattish growth in the U.S. You made it sound like is that
a sense of a leading indicator that you've hit some stability there?

We -- when we did our forecast for the year, we said overall that it would be just about flat to maybe up 1% or 2%, so anything
hovering around flat revenue growth we think is still the right way to look at it. In this past quarter, we still had a little bit of
decline in the U.S. That was offset by Canada and the UK, I think, and I maybe hope a little bit, but I expect and think that over
time, even the U.S. will inch up a bit.

And then as far as the Supply Chain side goes, sounds like it cost you a penny or two in the quarter with regards to those strikes.
I guess I'm a little bit surprised that the strikes would be upwards of $0.10 in the second quarter if they lasted the whole quarter.
Am I looking at that correctly?

Yeah, in the first quarter, it probably was more like $0.01 impact, and we're forecasting -- it's already in our expectations in the
second quarter, but the fact is that there really are three strikes going on right now. And that means it's more pervasive than it
was in March, and if they are not settled, if these continue, they could impact us $0.03 to $0.04 per month in the months of May
and June, and that's what we have forecasted.

Okay. That's good. Now, outside of that, I guess just trying to react to the lack of taking the guidance up and I understand there's
a lot of uncertainty out there, but the thought process, and back on FMS, I guess there's probably not a lot of change coming
on the contractual side or commercial rental side. So the variable, I guess I see there is just the used truck sales and what happens
there. Is that how you kind of addressed it when you looked at your full year guidance?

Well, we know what the downsides are for sure. Things that we're aware of like the strike, like the strikes, like other things going
on in the business that are head winds, and, there's volume challenges. There are still freight impacts, and, we took up the full
year guidance that is largely reflective of the excess that we gained in the first quarter, and I think that to take that higher at
this point would be a little bit premature.

Okay, okay. Last question along those same lines, are there -- is there anything you're seeing on your FMS side that gets you
more concerned about the external environment today than maybe what you saw three or six months ago, setting aside the
headlines and all that noise, just more looking at your own business?


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

From my point of view, the simple answer is no, but I'll ask Tony, who heads up that segment.

Okay. No, actually, Jon, we feel very positive going into the future. We, we know that there will be more technology change
next year and also that will impact us this year as well somewhat latter part of the year and those vehicles will cost more. They
will be more complex to maintain, so we think that the motivation to outsource the maintenance and go to full service leasing
remains very, very strong in the intermediate and also in the long-term.

Our pipelines are still very, very strong. Our retention ratios continue to improve. Our closing ratios continue to improve. As we
stated for the last couple of quarters, we maintain steady state, with the strong sales force head count. So we're going into the
marketplace with that kind of strength, and we feel very good that we'll be fine with the projections that we made earlier in the
year on our contractual revenue growth.

Okay. Thank you. Great quarter.

Thank you.

Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from John Larkin. You may ask your question, and please state your company name.

John Larkin - Stifel Nicolaus - Analyst
Company name is Stifel Nicolaus. Good morning, gentlemen.

Hello, John.

I was really impressed with the amount of capital you put to work during the quarter to first of all, acquire Lily, which seals to
be a great fit, and then also under the two share repurchase programs, it looks like you spent close to $100 million there. So
with Lily, that's about $200 million above and beyond what you need to kind of run the business that you're spending.

Yet the total obligations to equity ratio only ticked up from 157 to 159. So if the objective is to reach the leverage targets by,
let's say the end of 2010, which I read into some of the comments, then does that imply that you're going to have to perhaps
increase the pace from what appeared to be a fairly, fairly strong pace in the first quarter in order to reach that objective?


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

Well, first, you're right, that it only inched up a little from 157% to 159%, so it doesn't seem like much at this point, but also
recognize that the impact of the share repurchase was not in a full quarter, and the impact of the acquisitions made at the end
of last year and the start of this year, you still weren't getting the full impact. So that will be cumulative and that will be a positive
factor.

We also expect to continue the pace both for share repurchase and acquisitions, and we, we expect for you to see, as the quarters
go by, a greater impact on that leverage moving up. It's not enough of an exact science to say what that number would be by
the end of the year, but I think over the next three quarters, what you should see by the end of the year is maybe something
like 20 basis points or north of that, in terms of that leverage movement, and I think that will continue.

Okay. That's very helpful. You talked also about the good pricing environment, a relatively good pricing environment, I guess,
with the sale of used power units in particular. We hear a lot from the truckload carriers that there's a very active market in
eastern Europe and Russia. Do you have a conduit into that market, or is that one of the reasons why your pricing is holding up
so well there?

We, we have a conduit, should we need it, to other parts of the world. Our big preference is to perform in a retail pricing
environment through our used vehicle sales networks. Last year, when we had so many units to move, we did move more units
offshore and outside of the, of North America. We would like to do, again, as little of that as possible.

I think the positive results in the first quarter were a reflection of the fact that we did very little wholesaling. We don't feel that
at these quantities we need to do significant wholesaling, and we expect our proceeds to stay up because of the utilization of
the retail pricing in our existing retail used vehicle network.

Okay. That's very helpful. And lastly, I think you're being smart and being conservative in your economic assumptions going
forward. But, at some point with as much fiscal and monetary policy stimulus that is being thrust out there in the marketplace,
you would expect the economy to gain traction at some point.

What sort of factors should we look for to, kind of determine when Ryder will be going through that inflection point, what parts
of your business are most leveraged to an uptick in demand? Would it be commercial rental and perhaps used vehicle sales
that would be most leveraged, or is it something else?

I think a real uptick in commercial rental due primarily from demand as opposed to our more managing the environment, that
would be a sure sign. I think the quarter that Tony and his team and FMS say that customers are no longer delaying their decisions
and all of these good, solid pipeline contracts are getting ink on them, that would be a big indicator. In Supply Chain, when a
number of accounts suddenly, or more precipitously or pro actively and aggressively start seeing more volume moving, that
will be a big indicator, and I think those would be some of the big ones.


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

All right.

And certainly used vehicle sales may be a part of it, but less so from the other three that I just mentioned.

Got it. That's extremely helpful. Really appreciate it. Nice job on the quarter.

Thank you.

Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from Ed Wolfe. You may ask your question, and please state your company name.

Ed Wolfe - Wolfe Research - Analyst
Thank you. Wolfe Research. Good morning, guys.

Good morning, and we noticed the new name attached. Congratulations.

Thank you very much. It's exciting. Hey, just a little more color on the gains on sales. I was surprised to see that your tractor
pricing was up 1%, because we've heard from some others that they are seeing that not up year-over-year and more recently
a little bit more pressure. Is there something about the years of your vehicles, or have you seen a change in the last month or
two directionally on the pricing of the tractors? Can you talk to that?

Yeah, I'll give you a comment and I'll turn it over to Tony. He can comment whether there's any years. I don't think there are.

I think a lot of it has to do with, that something that's embedded and a value in our fundamental business model, and that is
our used vehicle sales centers have a lot of repeat customers who come to Ryder used truck locations because they have been
maintained by Ryder, they have an entire maintenance history, and when they hit the road or hit that truck lot, they are Ryder
road ready and I think that has some value. I think that has value in terms of pricing. With that, I'll turn it over to Tony.


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

Yes, thank you, Greg. And I think fundamentally, with the actions that we took last year to dramatically reduce our used vehicle
inventory level and also the asset base there, we're just being much more particular about the channel where we're selling the
units. We are much higher now in our retail sales, and more firm on our pricing in that regard as well. And relying much, much
less on wholesale.

There hasn't been any dramatic change in the mileage on the vehicles, no dramatic change in, within the tractor mix of what
they are, as well as the vintage in general. They are all road-ready, Ryder road-ready, Ryder tested, which is branded in the
marketplace for our used vehicles and they typically do command a better used price from that perspective. And we're just
seeing a better job by our used vehicle sales network team doing more retailing with those units.

Have you assumed in your guidance going forward that trucks are flat, up, down, in terms of pricing going forward?

For the most part on our UVS, we're seeing that the tractor pricing actually is beginning to firm a bit and rise a bit in our used
market. The truck pricing is still pretty stable and that will remain flattish for the rest of the year.

And then tractors, what are the main years? How old are the trucks that you're selling generally?

They are about seven to nine years old, in that range, generally speaking.

Okay. The auto strike, can you talk a little bit, Greg, about the impact. First of all, on Supply Chain, in terms of the NBT was down
a bit, how much of that specifically do you think is related to auto, and then did the auto strike and the larger strikes now impact
other units besides Supply Chain?

In the first quarter, it was about $0.01 a share impact. Going forward and especially in May and June, if all three strikes continue,
we again expect about $0.03 to $0.04 per month impact. I think it's largely focused in Supply Chain, although if, if in a worst
case they just lasted longer and continued to spread, it is possible there could be some other impact on fleet units, in Fleet
Management that serve those locations, but at this stage for the second quarter forecast, that $0.03 to $0.04potential per month
downside is largely with Supply Chain.

And the $0.03 to $0.04 is per month, not per quarter, and the $0.01, was that per month or per quarter that you mentioned in
first quarter?


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

The $0.03 to $0.04 for the second quarter is per month. And the $0.01 that I mentioned was for the totality of the first quarter,
which really was only in the month of March.

Okay, that's helpful. The rental turnaround is pretty phenomenal if you look at the revenue. Can you talk to maybe what the
utilization rates were, if you could take us through, if you have a monthly and versus a year ago?

Yes. Just to kind of give you a direction of where they had been, in -- if you go back to the fourth quarter of '06, they declined
550 basis points. So the fourth quarter '05 was 77.3. Fourth quarter '06 was 71.8.

In the first quarter of last year in '07, we lost 490 basis points and went down to 64.2. In the second quarter of '07, we lost 200
basis -- 250 basis points and went down to 70.6 from 73.1 the year before. In the third quarter of '07, we essentially began to
go flat. We are only down 20 basis points, because we are at 73 versus 73.2 in the prior year.

Last quarter of '07, we were up 490 basis points at 76.7, versus 71.8 in the prior year, which was near the fourth quarter '05 level
and then this quarter, you saw the 525 basis point improvement, as we went from 64.2 last year to 69.4 this year. So that may
give you a thorough chart.

That's pretty impressive. Let me--

I'll ask Tony if he wants to comment additionally.

Oh, sure.

Yes, I would just like to say we are extremely proud of our rental team and the great job they have done really driving this fleet
over the last number of quarters. They have really worked very, very hard driving these utilization rates. A number of our vehicle
classes are at 80% or even higher as a matter of fact. And we're extremely pleased with the great work that they have really
done.

That's also driven up our return on this asset class as well, and as we stated in our last conference call, and I will reiterate that
again today, we see this kind of utilization improvement for every quarter year-over-year, as we go throughout the year, and
also a return on assets for the rental fleet being -- improving every quarter this year as we go throughout the year as well. So
you'll continue to see these improved utilization rates.


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

The team has done a spectacular job driving that utilization and the returns, and we also feel that this is great momentum going
into the peak rental season. Our first quarter performance, as good as it was over last year, we're still not in the peak season, so
this is great momentum going into the peak season. We think the team is going to continue to do a great job and we think
rental will have an excellent year.

At what point, at what utilization do you have to start to now add back to the fleet and how far away are we from that, do you
think?

Well the low and mid-80s typically suggest that you may be turning down some customers a bit too frequently than we would
like in the marketplace, particularly if they go to our competitors to rent and they're full service lease customers. So we're about
there in a number of classes right now. But we still are staying very conservative in our capital expenditures, and for '08 they
will still be lower than '07, and '07 was lower than '06. So we're staying conservative on CapEx, but within certain classes, we're
about there, where we're in the mid to low 80s utilization rates.

That's great, and then I was going to be a little nitpicky on a terrific quarter. Central Support Services now have been at 11.5
million two quarters in a row, that's up quite a bit from last year at this time. Is there anything that we should think about in
terms of that going forward?

Well, you're right. We, we certainly need to spend money on information technology, and some other central initiatives. We
think that in the last couple of quarters, these are items that were important to continue to keep the momentum on, to keep
our place in the market. It is not -- I wouldn't say it's a significant long-term deviation or trend and certainly not different than
our normal approach to being careful about costs. Normal operating expenses we're really, really pretty careful with, as always,
but we do have some areas that for investments and timing we think are just important to do for the long-term value of the
organization.

Thank you very much for the time. I really appreciate it.

You're welcome.

Operator
Thank you. Our next question is from Art Hatfield. You may ask your question, and please state your company name.


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

Art Hatfield - Morgan Keegan - Analyst
Thank you. Morgan Keegan. Greg, you had mentioned on -- just one quick question on commercial rental, but you had mentioned
your guidance referring back to fourth quarter earnings release. Your guidance for commercial rental growth of 0% to 2%, and
obviously first quarter was in that range. Was first quarter better than you had expected, and should we think differently about
the rest of the year, or was it in line with your expectations?

I think it was a little better than, than the forecast that we put out when we did the 2008 plan. I'm not sure that I'm ready to
suggest that that will change the entire year look. The environment that we're in is just so uncertain and shaky that I think it's
a little early to make that call, but clearly in the first quarter, it was a bit stronger than we had forecast.

Okay. No, that's helpful. Secondly, when you had talked about -- you were pretty clear on second quarter guidance, that if the
strikes last throughout the quarter, that for both full year and second quarter guidance, that you would be at the lower end of
the range, ranges that you had given. Is it fair to say that these go on into third quarter, that you may have to reevaluate the
year or am I getting ahead of myself a little bit there?

I think that if they continue at this pace and they are not settled by the time we get into third quarter, I think we would have to
revisit and see if we had enough upside to offset that new downside.

Okay. Thank you. And the other thing -- I wanted to go back to Page 22, because when I looked at that this morning and saw
the extensions in the first quarter really jump up to a level they haven't been at since really before '03, how, how -- what are our
customers saying by doing that? My initial read on that is that they see a flattish economy and they don't want to commit to
any new vehicles until they see growth. Is that a fair assessment?

I think that is very fair. I think that's a customer from seeing those numbers, customers saying we still need some equipment,
we need it in the near term, it would be premature to give it up because we've got deliveries to make to customers, but when
you look beyond, you know, three to six months or 12, we're not sure how long this will last, how much downturn there will be,
and don't want to make that firmer, longer-term commitment. So I think that's an accurate assessment.

Yeah, thank you. And also, those vehicles, too, as you extend them, the returns that you generate over the life of that vehicle
become extremely positive, correct?


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

Yes, yes, that's true, because the capital's already been expended. The, the revenue stream continues, and it's extended, so, yes,
that is short-term positive.

Now, you had had a lot of questions about the pricing, particularly on your power units being up 1%, and as I look at your ability
to redeploy early terminations and the extensions that you're getting, that seems to me that internally you're not getting a lot
more volume coming into your used truck fleet. As such, that's going to allow you to be more disciplined over the next three
to six months on pricing than maybe you would normally be as you had normal kind of replacement occurring?

I would say yes, and I'll let Tony comment further.

Yes, that's exactly right. What we're seeing with the extensions, and you're correct, the returns are very attractive on those, that
those units are not coming into the UTC at this point in time, nor are the redeployments as well at the same time. So right now,
the flow of vehicles coming into our used vehicle network is extremely manageable and we still believe that at year end, and
we're confident of this that the inventory of the used vehicles will be lower than it was at the beginning of the year. So that
allows us to maintain our retail strategy in contrast to what we used more in '07 and we think that will continue to prop up
prices and gains, and as a result, the disciplines will be there.

Great. Then finally, Greg, historically you've talked about your contract maintenance business as being a good precursor to
potential conversions to full service lease, and you had a great year last year in the contract maintenance. Are you starting --
are you seeing any of those customers convert to full service leasing at this point?

Some. If Tony has more detail, he could comment. But, yes, I think directionally, some.

No, I think a number of them are converting over. We do market that hard, and we will see in the future, we believe, a lot of
growth and strength in this area as people do not want to take on the burden of maintaining the very complex EPA-compliant
units. So we see this product line as a very nice growth offering for us in the future and we always have the sales and marketing
group pushing for conversion of those into full service lease and we have been successful doing that.

Tony, do you have a conversion metric that you follow with regards to that?


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

Generally, yes, but we, we watch it pretty steadily and we are seeing some success in that area.

Great, thank you very much. Great quarter, guys.

Thank you.

Operator
Thank you. Todd Fowler, you may ask your question, and please state your company name.

Todd Fowler - KeyBanc Capital Markets - Analyst
Hi, good morning. KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Good morning.

Greg, could you -- did you mention what the organic revenue growth was for full service lease in the quarter?

I'm not sure if we mentioned it, but I think it was 2% or 3% for organic, apart from the acquisitions and apart from FX, yeah.
Three, I think is the number.

Okay.

Half the growth came from organic, yes.

Okay, perfect. That's helpful. And then with the gains on vehicle sales that you experienced here in the quarter, is that a decent
run rate to think about going forward, given the fact that the rental fleet is probably closer to being right-sized and we haven't
placed as many vehicles into service, but the gains taper off throughout the year, or is that a sustainable run rate?


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

This is Tony. We will have fewer units to sell this year, as the year goes on, so you will see the gains taper down as we go
throughout the quarters. We've been very successful reducing the size of that fleet, and even though proceeds will be higher,
there will be fewer units to sell fortunately, and then the gains will be lower in each quarter as we go throughout the year.

But I would also add what you saw in the first quarter is we also have a lot less carrying costs that go with carrying that extra
fleet.

Okay. That's a fair point. And then I guess just lastly, one of the areas that probably hasn't been touched on yet, on the DCC
business, Greg, if you could talk a little bit about you had some commentary about some nonrenewal of some customer contracts
during the quarter and revenue was basically down maybe a percent or so, but it looks like the margins held in pretty well. Can
you talk a little bit about the trends you're seeing that that business, and then secondly the cost control aspect and maintaining
the margins in kind of a softish revenue environment?

Yeah, I think DCC is a reflection of a lot of challenge and head wind and competitiveness in the freight transportation market,
and while we're down about a percent, some of that was made up by the pegs in the pass-through in the fuel costs, so that
helped keep revenue up a bit. The earnings were up I think 9% or $900,000, which is a good sign, which means that our efficiency,
our operating efficiency, our continuing focus on safety and security and all of the other things that go with running that
operation have continued to improve. So while basically revenue has been flat or down, the earnings have continued to improve
and, you know, that's not the ultimate model, but in the interim, while things are tougher, I think that the cost control has
worked to offset more robust growth.

And is that sustainable? I mean if revenue continues to slip, are you able to continue to squeeze efficiencies out of that segment?

Somewhat. I mean obviously you can't be gutted, but it, you know, it needs its, it needs its operational capacity, technology,
people, and expertise to adequately run a good service. Remember, this is a high value-added niche service for customers, and
it needs a certain service level. And it tends to get a higher value in the marketplace, so we need to maintain that as well.

And then just one last question on that, and the same line. For the loss or the nonrenewal contracts, do you have any sort of
sense of where that business goes?


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

It could just go away. It could be customers who just might be cutting back significantly. Sometimes it might go back to lease,
so it might be even in sometimes utilizing their own drivers and taking some of that sort of in-house, but leasing from us. So it
can go a variety of places.

Okay, good. Thanks a lot for the color. Nice quarter.

Sure, thank you.

Operator
Thank you. Our final question today is from David Campbell. You may ask your question, and please state your company name.

David Campbell - Thomson Davis & Company - Analyst
Thompson, Davis & Company. Good morning, everybody.

Good morning, David.

I'm sorry if I'm asking questions that have been answered. I had to get off the call briefly to answer some phone calls. For example,
the estimated earnings for the second quarter and year are based on how many fully diluted shares?

We ended I think at 57.5.

Fully diluted?

Yes.

Yeah, the forecast is based on 57.


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

57, okay.

It's 57 million. For both the second quarter and year?

Yeah, approximately, approximately for the year. For the second quarter, it's 57. It will be slightly lower than that for the year.

Okay. Okay. And the last question is, we've heard a lot about the vehicle gains and so forth and how they were stronger than
expected in the first quarter. Now you have fewer vehicles for sale, so what kind of gains should we be modeling in our forecast
the rest of the year?

Tony, do you want to cover that?

Well, I think as we had stated, the gains will be lower as we go on throughout the quarter, but I think far more important than
the gains is the dramatic reduction that you'll see in the carrying costs for the fleet. That fleet was twice as large in the number
of the months as we went through '07 and the asset level from a depreciation and interest point of view was much, much higher.
So, so the dramatic savings in carrying costs will outweigh the reduction in the gains because of fewer vehicles to sell.

And that reduction in costs, carrying costs, was not fully reflected in the first quarter?

Yes, it was in the first quarter, and we did have a benefit for at least $0.01 a share as a result of the reduction in carrying costs
being greater than the reduction in gains year-over-year for the quarter.

Mm-hmm.

And that, we will continue to see.


FINAL TRANSCRIPT

Right, right. The gains will still be down from last year?

Yes, they will, but to a lesser extent, as I said, than a very favorable reduction in the carrying costs for that idle fleet.

Right, right. Well, thank you very much. All my other questions have been answered. Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Operator
Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Greg Swienton.

Well, I think all questions in queue have been answered. We're also a few minutes over time. Thank you, everyone, for your
participation. Have a good safe day. Bye, now.

Operator
Thank you. This concludes today's conference. Thank you for participating. You may disconnect at this time.

DISCLAIMER
Thomson Financial reserves the right to make changes to documents, content, or other information on this web site without obligation to notify any person of such changes.
In the conference calls upon which Event Transcripts are based, companies may make projections or other forward-looking statements regarding a variety of items. Such forward-looking
statements are based upon current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those stated in any forward-looking statement based on a
number of important factors and risks, which are more specifically identified in the companies' most recent SEC filings. Although the companies may indicate and believe that the
assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of the assumptions could prove inaccurate or incorrect and, therefore, there can be no assurance that the
results contemplated in the forward-looking statements will be realized.
THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN EVENT TRANSCRIPTS IS A TEXTUAL REPRESENTATION OF THE APPLICABLE COMPANY'S CONFERENCE CALL AND WHILE EFFORTS ARE MADE TO PROVIDE
AN ACCURATE TRANSCRIPTION, THERE MAY BE MATERIAL ERRORS, OMISSIONS, OR INACCURACIES IN THE REPORTING OF THE SUBSTANCE OF THE CONFERENCE CALLS. IN NO WAY DOES
THOMSON FINANCIAL OR THE APPLICABLE COMPANY ASSUME ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY INVESTMENT OR OTHER DECISIONS MADE BASED UPON THE INFORMATION PROVIDED ON
THIS WEB SITE OR IN ANY EVENT TRANSCRIPT. USERS ARE ADVISED TO REVIEW THE APPLICABLE COMPANY'S CONFERENCE CALL ITSELF AND THE APPLICABLE COMPANY'S SEC FILINGS
BEFORE MAKING ANY INVESTMENT OR OTHER DECISIONS.
©2008, Thomson Financial. All Rights Reserved. 1434361-2008-04-30T19:25:13.977


Q12008transcript

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Tendances

Tendances (20)

En vedette

En vedette (20)

Similaire à Q12008transcript

Similaire à Q12008transcript (20)

Plus de finance44

Plus de finance44 (20)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

Q12008transcript