Although earnings were down for its fiscal year, Celadon says its fourth-quarter earnings show things are looking up.


Celadon Group, Indianapolis, reported its financial and operating results for the three months and fiscal year ended June 30, the fourth fiscal quarter of the company's fiscal year ending June 30, 2008.

For the quarter, revenue increased 17.4% to $154.6 million in the 2008 quarter from $131.7 million in the 2007 quarter. Freight revenue, which excludes fuel surcharges, was up 3.5% to $116.7 million in the 2008 quarter from $112.7 million in the 2007 quarter. Pre-tax income decreased to $4.4 million in the 2008 quarter from $8.3 million for the same quarter last year. Earnings per diluted share decreased to $0.10 in the 2008 quarter from $0.22 for the same quarter last year.

For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2008, revenue increased 12.6% to $565.9 million in 2008 from $502.7 million for the same period last year. Freight revenue was up 5.7% to $457.5 million in 2008 from $433.0 million for the same period last year. Net income decreased 70.4% to $6.6 million in 2008 from $22.3 million for the same period last year. Earnings per diluted share decreased to $0.29 from $0.94 the same period last year.

"The June quarter results showed marked improvement in operating metrics," said Chairman and CEO Steve Russell. Average miles per week per tractor was the best since December 2006, and up about 2 percent from June 2007. Deadhead miles, at 9.7 percent of total miles, compared to 10.5 percent in the June 2007 quarter, and was the lowest since the September 2006 quarter. Although down by 2.1 cents from the comparable quarter last year, the average rate per loaded mile increased from the March 2007 quarter by close to one cent per mile. Revenue per tractor per week was the highest since the December 2006 quarter.

"We are clearly seeing the results of a meaningful reduction in capacity in the truckload industry," Russell said. "The shrinking of capacity is the result of a substantial number of fleet failures, reductions in the number of trucks run by many larger fleets, and the export of relatively young Class 8 tractors to eastern Europe and elsewhere, and fewer new tractors being built. Although overall freight demand is perhaps up slightly, the impact of the reduction in supply has led to a firming of rates and volumes per available truck. Unless there is a meaningful decline in freight demand, we expect rate increase opportunities will continue."