Indianapolis-based Celadon Group reported its financial and operating results for the three and nine months ended March 31, 2008,
the third fiscal quarter of the company's fiscal year ending June 30, 2008.

For the quarter, revenue increased 15.4 precent to $138.9 million from $120.4 million in the 2007 quarter. Freight revenue, which excludes fuel surcharges, was up 6.8 percent to $112.4 million in the 2008 quarter from $105.2 million in the 2007 quarter. Pre-tax income decreased to $1.1 million in the 2008 quarter from $6.6 million for the same quarter last year. Earnings per diluted share fell to $0.01 in the 2008 quarter from $0.17 for the same quarter last year.

"Record diesel fuel prices, which soared late in the quarter, adversely affected earnings per share by 10 cents compared with the prior year's quarter," said Chairman and CEO Steve Russell, "The lower U.S. dollar compared with the Canadian dollar hurt earnings by 3 cents per share, and a higher tax rate represented a 1-cent impact on earnings per share.

"There have been, however, meaningful positive developments. Rates have stabilized after four quarters of declines, and showed a slight increase sequentially, with the March 2008 quarter at $1.501 from the December 2007 level of $1.499. We believe that an increase in competitors exiting the business, a major decline in new truck builds, and the continued export of relatively new trucks overseas has begun to reduce supply in the industry. Further, we improved our average miles per tractor per week by 1.1 pecent in the 2008 quarter, to 1,984 in the 2008 quarter, from 1,962 in the prior year March quarter. Our freight revenue per truck per week was relatively flat, despite the difficult operating environment."