Mullen Group reported higher revenue but lower earnings in 2025 as a soft Canadian economy and weak private-sector investment pressured freight demand and margins.

The Okotoks, Alta.-based logistics provider generated fourth-quarter revenue of $533.8 million, up 7% year over year, driven entirely by acquisitions completed in 2025. Full-year revenue rose 7.3% to $2.13 billion.

Despite the topline growth, profitability declined. Fourth-quarter net income fell 22.8% to $14.6 million, while adjusted earnings per share dropped to 15 cents from 33 cents a year earlier. For the full year, net income decreased 18.9% to $91.1 million, and adjusted EPS declined 30.9% to 94 cents.

Growth was concentrated in logistics, warehousing and U.S. third-party logistics, largely due to contributions from recent acquisitions, including Cole International. Less-than-truckload revenue was essentially flat, while margins narrowed amid cost pressures.

“The fourth quarter was, in many respects, like previous quarters in 2025,” Chairman and Senior Executive Officer Murray Mullen said in an earnings release.  

“Incremental revenues from acquisitions accounted for all of the increase in revenues. We identified this trend as the only plausible way to grow when the Canadian economy was underperforming, the lack of capital investment by the private sector remained a significant headwind, and the consumer continued to struggle from the after-effects of inflation and the rise in the cost of basic needs.”

Capacity: A tale of two markets

Mullen was asked by analysts on an earnings call what he’s seeing in both the Canadian and U.S. markets in terms of trucking capacity. While Mullen cautioned January is typically a difficult month to read, he’s not seeing much change in Canada.

“I don’t think we’re seeing anything up north that would tell us that capacity has tightened in a meaningful way,” he said.

Mullen has yet to see a demand boost from nation-building projects that have been discussed and business leaders continue to take a cautionary approach to investment. Business growth this year will likely have to come through acquisition, Mullen acknowledged, even though he does expect additional fleet failures to remove some capacity from the market.

“You need capacity to tighten to get rates up, that’s just the reality,” Mullen said. “I don’t think I’ve seen any firm predicting huge economic growth in Canada in 2026…If we’re waiting for the federal government to tighten capacity, I’m not holding my breath on that.”

The story is different in the United States, however, where Mullen described the trucking industry as geared toward “more animalistic” instincts.

The company’s Haulistic U.S. brokerage is seeing evidence of tightening capacity coupled with stronger economic fundamentals. Enforcement crackdowns related to non-domiciled CDLs and English-language proficiency are stripping capacity from the market south of the border, Mullen noted.

M&A opportunities

In the absence of strong economic growth, Mullen Group has positioned its balance sheet for further acquisitions this year. Alread in 2026, it has made two acquisitions in its specialized and industrial (S&A) segment, including fully taking over Thrive Fluid Management, a company in which Mullen was already an investor.

“We’ve said, the only viable way to grow when the economy is not growing until capacity tightens is to do acquisitions,” said Mullen. “We expect we’ll have to do more in 2026 and we’ve put the balance sheet in a really good position to ensure we can grow at the corporate level even though the economy is not growing.”

He expressed particular interest in growing the S&I segment, for the first time in years, as promised nation-building projects and energy exports are expected to come to fruition.