Trucking, logistics and oilfield services firm Mullen Group Ltd. says it has temporarily laid off about 1,000 people because of the impact of measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chairman and CEO Murray Mullen says the Calgary-based company was outperforming its year-earlier performance until mid-March, when demand for its services turned lower.
He says there’s been a sharp decline in the demand for discretionary consumer goods as well as in commodity-based industries but its less-than-truckload and large diameter pipe transport businesses are doing well.
Mullen says the company has established a $5-million family assistance fund to help staff affected by the downturn.
The company reported net income of $4.7 million or four cents per share on revenue of $318 million in the three months ended March 31.
That’s down from net income of $11.6 million or 11 cents on revenue of $320 million in the first quarter of 2019.
“The bottom line is that this health crisis is hurting a lot of people,” Mullen said in a statement.
He added: “We will see business decline, perhaps quite significantly in the short-term, however, I believe we will weather this crisis and come out of it stronger.”
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