Marten, citing weak freight market, cuts base salaries of 6 top executives

In the SEC filing, the reductions were described as temporary. The move does not impact other types of compensation, Marten said.

The filing said the cuts were taken as part of Marten’s “cost reduction initiatives to mitigate the considerable duration and depth of the freight market recession’s impact on our operations with its oversupply, weak demand and inflationary operating costs.”

Those six executives were all on the “comp table” in Marten’s (NASDAQ: MRTN) latest proxy statement, a part of every proxy statement that represents the company’s highest-paid executives. 

The base salary compensation in 2023 for all the executives was approximately 4.4% more than it was in 2022, according to the comp table. However, 2022 figures for Phillips and Baier were not provided because Phillips joined Marten in late 2023 and Baier joined in the middle of last year.

The 2023 and 2022 salaries, respectively, were for Marten, $811,077, up from $776,998; Kohl, $744,654, up from $713,243; Hinnendael, $408,538, up from $391,346; and Petit, $397,539, up from $380,653. Phillips’ salary was $288,860, while Baier’s was $266,576.

None of the officers received bonuses in 2023. Stock or options awards granted to all the executives ranged from $61,470 for Phillips and Baier to $359,169 for Marten. 

In the company’s latest earnings report for the second quarter, Marten’s truckload activities net of fuel surcharge revenue recorded an operating ratio of 98.8% compared to 90.6% in the second quarter of 2023. Revenue dropped to $96 million in the second quarter, down from $101.3 million in the corresponding quarter a year earlier. Average revenue per tractor per week, net of fuel revenue, declined to $4,093 from $4,472.

In its earnings statement released at the time – Marten does not do a call with analysts – the company said it had not agreed to any rate cuts since August 2023. It made that statement in both the first and second quarter.

Marten’s stock in the last year, per data from Barchart, is down about 12.3%. It has risen just 2.25% in the past three months, a period when the overall stock market as measured by the S&P 500 is up about 7.6%.

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