Mullen Group overcame a variety of challenges in the first quarter to post record revenue as well as improved year-over-year profits.

Border blockades, high absenteeism associated with Covid, and significant weather events all hampered productivity, noted Murray Mullen, chairman and CEO.

“The most pressing challenge, however, was surging inflation and higher fuel costs,” he said in a release announcing Q1 results. “Collectively these issues hurt margins and profitability in the quarter, setting off another round of pricing increases to our customers. These are difficult discussions to have but are absolutely required to drive margin improvement in future quarters.”

Mullen Group reported record revenues of $456.9 million, a 57.3% increase year over year. Net income jumped 26.2%, from $13 million to $16.4 million, largely due to the contributions of acquisitions made over the course of the past year.

“Expanding our service offerings through the acquisition of quality companies involved in the logistics space remains our number one priority as we strive to increase market penetration,” Mullen said. “This strategy is crucial to gaining future market share as shippers adjust to a structural change in the supply chain. No longer can logistics be taken for granted. It takes companies with scale and size, like Mullen Group, to handle the complexities associated with moving freight, because regardless of whether the shipment originates globally the freight must still be delivered locally.”

The LTL segment saw revenue jump 45.4% to $175.6 million, logistics and warehousing revenue climbed 56.1% to $142.5 million, specialized and industrial services nudged up 5% to $83.3 million, while Mullen’s new U.S. 3PL operations generated a better-than-expected $57.3 million.