Covenant Reports 2Q Earnings

Covenant Transportation Group said late Tuesday it lost $2.3 million, or 17 cents a share, in the second quarter, compared with a loss of $11.3 million, or 80 cents, a year ago.

Revenue rose 17.6% to $208.7 million, the truckload carrier said in its latest quarterly earnings report.

Freight revenue, which excludes fuel surcharges, rose 6.2% to $160.5 million, Covenant said.

鈥淔or the quarter, the Company鈥檚 cost of diesel fuel, net of surcharge recovery, rose by $4.7 million, or approximately $0.046 per company-owned truck mile,鈥 David Parker, Covenant鈥檚 chief executive officer, said in a statement. 鈥淭his had a negative year-over-year impact of approximately $0.21 per share on the Company鈥檚 financial results for the second quarter of 2008.鈥

The company also said that the 2007 quarterly loss includes a number of 鈥渋nfrequent operating expense items鈥 that resulted in a charge of about $7.5 million in that period.

Covenant is ranked No. 39 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.