CNF TRANSPORTATION POSTS FLAT THIRD-QUARTER EARNINGS

CNF TRANSPORTATION POSTS FLAT THIRD-QUARTER EARNINGS

   CNF Transportation Inc. reported third quarter net income of $42.1
million, compared with $41.9 million for the year earlier quarter.
   The company’s three largest operating units had improved income, Con-Way Transportation Services (up 12 percent), Emery Worldwide (up 4 percent) and Menlo Logistics (up 13 percent). CNF’s Priority Mail contract, however, had a break-even quarter, "due to a pricing dispute with the U.S. Postal Service," said Gregory L. Quesnel, president and chief executive officer of CNF.
   Quesnel blamed the pricing dispute for CNF’s first decline in operating income in two years, down 4 percent to $85.8 million.
   For the first nine months of 1999, operating income rose 21 percent,
including non-recurring gains, to a record $263.7 million. the
non-recurring gains included sale of the company’s wholesale truck parts operation in the second quarter and settlement of a lawsuit in the first quarter. Without non-recurring gains, operating income rose 9 percent.
   Con-Way Transportation Services had a third-quarter operating income of $56.9 million, up 12 percent. Con-Way’s regional carrier tonnage rose 9.8 percent and LTL tonnage increased 9.6 percent.
   For the nine-month period, Con-Way’s operating income was $171.7
million, up 10.7 percent.
   Menlo Logistics, CNF’s third-party logistics division, reported a record third-quarter operating income of $6.3 million, up 13 percent from the year-earlier quarter. Operating income for the first nine months was $16.1 million, up 12.2 percent.