Old Dominion Freight Line and Celadon Group on Thursday released their financial results for the final quarter of the year, with both reporting higher profits.


Old Dominion Freight Line, High Point, N.C., saw fourth quarter revenue from operations rise 3.3% to $124.4 million from $120.48 million for the fourth quarter of 2000. Net income was $4.15 million, compared with $2.5 million for the same quarter in 2000. Fourth quarter 2001 results include the sale of operating property for an after-tax gain of $1.24 million, and the sale and disposition of non-operating properties for a net after-tax gain of $471,000. Excluding these transactions, which account for $1.71 million of net income, the company's net income for the quarter was $2.44 million.
For the year, revenue increased 5.6% to $502.24 million, $475.8 million for 2000. Net income was $11.91 million, compared with $13.7 million the previous year. Excluding the fourth quarter 2001 nonrecurring transactions, the company's net income was $10.19 million.
The company says the revenue growth was due to increasing market share in its existing service center network and to the company's February 2001 acquisition of Carter & Sons Freightways.

Celadon Group, Indianapolis, reported net income for the final quarter of 2001 increased to $199,000, compared with a loss of $555,000 in the prior year's comparable period. Consolidated revenue for the three months was $79.3 million, a 5 percent increase over an adjusted $75.4 million reported for the same period a year earlier. The adjusted revenues for the December 2000 quarter exclude revenues from the divested flatbed division and higher pass-through revenues related to U.S. border-crossing costs. Including these revenues, reported revenue in the prior year's comparable period was $87 million.
Celadon Group reported income before taxes of $328,000 for the quarter ended December 31, compared with a loss before taxes of $838,000 in the prior-year December quarter, an improvement of $1.17 million. The December 2000 quarter included approximately $240,000 of operating profit from its divested flatbed division.
Trucking operating income increased from $1.7 million in the December 2000 quarter, excluding the divested flatbed division, to $2 million in the December 2001 quarter. Improved margins and lower interest cost, related to a reduction of over $20 million in debt and lower interest rates, more than offset higher insurance and tractor cost. Tractor expense increased due to reducing the trade cycle from five to four years.
"Despite a much more difficult economic climate in the United States in 2001, we were able to grow revenue miles by close to 2 percent, and revenue on an adjusted basis by 5 percent for the quarter," said Steve Russell, Chairman and CEO. "Utilization, measured in miles per week per tractor, was below historical levels, due to the shape of the U.S. economy. We believe that when the recession ends, our miles should improve. With deadhead running meaningfully below last year, we would expect that better miles per week per tractor will result in higher margins."
Celadon's TruckersB2B generated operating income of $223,000 in the December 2001 quarter, compared with a loss of $655,000 in the prior year's comparable period. Revenue at TruckersB2B increased by 42 percent to $1.7 million in the December 2001 quarter, from $1.2 million in the December 2000 quarter. Celadon owns approximately 80 percent of TruckersB2B, which now has over 310,000 member trucks enrolled, represented by over 10,000 separate companies in the U.S. and Canada.