S&P downgrades Swift

Standard & Poor's said it lowered Swift Corp.'s long-term corporate credit ratings to CCC+ from B-, its $835 million second-lien notes to CCC- with a recovery rating of 6 from B- with a recovery rating of 4 and the first-lien credit facilities of Swift Transportation Co. Inc. (Arizona) and Swift Transportation Co. Inc. (Nevada) to B- with a recovery rating of 2 from B+ with a recovery rating of 1.

The ratings were placed on CreditWatch with negative implications.

The agency said the downgrade reflects heightened concerns over the company's covenant cushion and liquidity position over the next year given its highly leveraged capital structure with minimal debt amortization, mounting competitive pressures in the trucking sector and continuing weakness in the U.S. economy.

Ratings on Swift reflect the highly fragmented and cyclical truckload market and the company's high capital intensity, customer concentration and highly leveraged capital structure, S&P said.

These factors are somewhat offset by the company's satisfactory market position as one of the largest truckload carriers in the United States and growing positions within the intermodal and dedicated trucking business, the agency said.

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