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Rising rail-car lease rates and profits on car sales helped The Andersons Inc. Rail Group increase third-quarter operating income 600 percent to $4.9 million and revenue, 109 percent to $19.4 million compared with third-quarter 2003.

Yesterday, The Andersons reported a $2.5 million increase in quarterly gross profit on rail-car sales compared with the same 2003 period.

"During the quarter, when we saw that the rail and agriculture businesses were exceeding our performance expectations, we revised our full-year earnings per diluted share guidance upward," said The Andersons President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Anderson in a prepared statement. "Now in the first week of November … the rail business remains strong."

The company also reported $8.2 million in nine-month operating income on revenue of $43.6 million compared with $2.4 million in operating income on revenue of $26.3 million during 2003's first nine months.

The Andersons Rail Group leases, fabricates and maintains rail cars.