The following is a “safe harbor” statement under the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain
statements and information in this report may constitute
“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, among others,
statements regarding (i) our expectations about our intrinsic value
or our prospects for growth and value creation and (ii) our
financial outlook, position, strategies, goals, and expectations.
Terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,”
“expect,” “forecast,” “foresee,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,”
“predict,” “project,” “scheduled,” “should,” “would,” and similar
expressions and the negatives of such terms are intended to
identify forward-looking statements. These statements are based on
management’s beliefs, assumptions, and expectations based on
currently available information, are not guarantees of future
performance, and involve certain risks and uncertainties (some of
which are beyond our control). Although we believe that the
expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are
reasonable as and when made, we cannot provide assurance that our
expectations will prove to be correct. Actual outcomes and results
could materially differ from what is expressed, implied, or
forecasted in these statements due to a number of factors,
including, but not limited to: unfavorable terms of, or the
inability to reach agreement on, future collective bargaining
agreements or a workforce stoppage by our employees covered
under ABF Freight’s collective bargaining agreement; the effects of
a widespread outbreak of an illness or disease, including the
COVID-19 pandemic, or any other public health crisis, as well as
regulatory measures implemented in response to such events;
external events which may adversely affect us or the third parties
who provide services for us, for which our business continuity
plans may not adequately prepare us, including, but not limited to,
acts of war or terrorism, or military conflicts; data privacy
breaches, cybersecurity incidents, and/or failures of our
information systems, including disruptions or failures of services
essential to our operations or upon which our information
technology platforms rely; interruption or failure of third-party
software or information technology systems or licenses;
untimely
or ineffective development and implementation of, or failure to
realize the potential benefits associated with, new or enhanced
technology or processes, including the pilot test program at ABF
Freight and our investments in human-centered remote operation
software; the
loss or reduction of business from large customers;
the
timing and performance of growth initiatives and the ability to
manage our cost structure; the
cost, integration, and performance of any recent or future
acquisitions, including the acquisition of MoLo Solutions, LLC, and
the inability to realize the anticipated benefits of the
acquisition within the expected time period or at all; maintaining
our corporate reputation and intellectual property rights;
nationwide or global disruption in the supply chain resulting in
increased volatility in freight volumes; competitive initiatives
and pricing pressures; increased prices for and decreased
availability of new revenue equipment, decreases in value of used
revenue equipment, and higher costs of equipment-related operating
expenses such as maintenance, fuel, and related taxes; availability
of fuel, the effect of volatility in fuel prices and the associated
changes in fuel surcharges on securing increases in base freight
rates, and the inability to collect fuel surcharges; relationships
with employees, including unions, and our ability to attract,
retain, and upskill employees; union employee wages and benefits,
including changes in required contributions to multiemployer plans;
availability and cost of reliable third-party services; our ability
to secure independent owner operators and/or operational or
regulatory issues related to our use of their services; litigation
or claims asserted against us; governmental regulations;
environmental laws and regulations, including emissions-control
regulations; default on covenants of financing arrangements and the
availability and terms of future financing arrangements; our
ability to generate sufficient cash from operations to support
significant ongoing capital expenditure requirements and other
business initiatives; self-insurance claims and insurance premium
costs; potential impairment of goodwill and intangible assets;
general economic conditions and related shifts in market demand
that impact the performance and needs of industries we serve and/or
limit our customers’ access to adequate financial resources;
increasing costs due to inflation and rising interest rates;
seasonal fluctuations, adverse weather conditions, natural
disasters, and climate change; and other financial, operational,
and legal risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in
ArcBest Corporation’s public filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (“SEC”).
For
additional information regarding known material factors that could
cause our actual results to differ from those expressed in these
forward-looking statements, please see our filings with the SEC,
including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form
10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K.
Readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. We undertake no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statements after the date they are made, whether as a result of new
information, future events, or otherwise.