Weeks after ousting finance chief, Roadrunner replaces CEO

Beset by accounting issues and a slumping stock price, Roadrunner Transportation Systems has replaced its chief executive officer.

Out as CEO is Mark DiBlasi, who oversaw an aggressive acquisition course that made the Cudahy trucking company one of the country’s 20 largest carriers, but one that has stumbled over the last year.

Replacing DiBlasi is Curt Stoelting, an executive with an accounting background who came to Roadrunner little more than a year ago as president and chief operating officer.

The move comes just five weeks after Roadrunner terminated its chief financial officer, Peter Armbruster.

The sacking of Armbruster followed the disclosure of accounting discrepancies at two operating subsidiaries that forced Roadrunner to warn investors not to rely on its financial statements of the last three years.

The company has been working to restate nearly two years’ worth of financial results, lowering previously reported earnings.

In the wake of the accounting woes, various investors have filed three separate lawsuits against Roadrunner, alleging they were misled by the company’s earlier statements of its performance. Among the plaintiffs is the Mississippi public employees pension system.

Roadrunner shares have dropped about 40% since the disclosure, and have been on a downward trend for nearly two years. The stock traded around $25 in July 2015. It closed Monday at $6.67.

Meanwhile Tuesday, Roadrunner said it had received $540 million from affiliates of Elliott Management in exchange for preferred stock.

Known as an activist that seeks to steer the direction of firms in which it invests, Elliott will have the right to appoint two members to Roadrunner’s board.

Of the money from Elliott, Roadrunner said it expects to repay $240 million quickly as it puts together new financing from commercial lenders.

DiBlasi had been CEO since 2006. He will serve temporarily as vice chairman of the board of directors, the company said Tuesday.

Roadrunner went public in 2010 and over the following five years made more than 20 acquisitions. That propelled the company from sales of $632 million to $2 billion in 2015, the last year for which Roadrunner has filed an annual report.

The company since has backed away from acquisitions. The last one it announced was in July 2015.

But plans to focus on organic growth have yet to pay off. Revenue for the first nine months of last year was down slightly from 2015, and the fourth quarter will see a huge paper loss as Roadrunner writes down goodwill by an estimated $175 million to $200 million.