U-Haul 2007 Annual Report Download - page 3

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Dear Fellow Shareholders,
Sustainability. All businesses should be held accountable for conducting themselves in a responsible manner,
vis-à-vis, planet Earth. From its inception, U-Haul has recognized this. We define rentals as “division of use and
specialization of ownership.” The rental concept is one of careful management of the Earth’s resources, while
making these resources available to the Earth’s inhabitants. Done well, rentals enhance sustainability.
U-Haul can do more in this regard. Expect us to probe some additional initiatives this year.
During fiscal 2007, U-Haul served more than 11 million do-it-yourself household moving customers. Also during this
period more than 700,000 people stored their belongings in a U-Haul storage facility.
We have an aggressive fleet-replacement program in place geared to assist in the optimization of our maintenance
program, improve fleet availability and to better serve our customers. This should result in added long-term
profitability. During fiscal 2007 more than 22,500 trucks and nearly 2,000 trailers were added to our fleet.
Our revenues and earnings in fiscal 2007 were negatively affected by softness in one-way truck pricing, utilization
and fleet distribution. We are addressing these concerns and believe we can deal with them.
Operating earnings at our life insurance and casualty insurance companies finished the year as expected. Their
combined operating earnings grew $5.2 million during fiscal 2007. Both companies earned upgrades from A.M. Best.
We remain committed to managing our finances in order to grow our operations and deliver value directly to
our shareholders. We will continue to expand our operations by reinvesting our own profits and leveraging the
company’s real estate and fleet assets.
Our direction and principles have not changed with respect to who we are and what to expect from us. We remain a
company with an entrepreneurial, aggressive management team, committed to serving customers throughout North
America.
We have a strong committed group of people who have dedicated their careers to helping North Americans move
to a better way of life and who support our Primary Service Objective; to provide a better and better product and
service to more and more people at a lower and lower cost. I am proud to work towards and support this noble effort.
Thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
E.J. “Joe” Shoen
Joe Shoen, Chairman of the Board