TAL International Group, Inc. (NYSE: TAL), one of the world’s largest lessors of intermodal freight containers and chassis, today reported results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2008.

Adjusted pre-tax income (1), excluding unrealized gains / losses on interest rate swaps, was $29.9 million in the third quarter of 2008, compared to $21.9 million in the third quarter of 2007, an increase of approximately 37%. The Company focuses on adjusted pre-tax results since it considers unrealized gains / losses on interest rate swaps to be unrelated to operating performance and since it does not expect to pay any significant income taxes for a number of years due to the availability of accelerated tax depreciation on its existing container fleet and planned future equipment purchases.

Leasing revenues for the third quarter of 2008 were $80.4 million compared to $71.8 million in the third quarter of 2007. Adjusted EBITDA (2), including principal payments on finance leases, was $81.7 million for the quarter versus $67.5 million in the prior year period.

Adjusted Net Income (3), excluding unrealized gains / losses on interest rate swaps, was $19.3 million for the third quarter of 2008, compared to $14.1 million in the third quarter of 2007, an increase of approximately 37%. Adjusted Net Income per fully diluted common share was $0.59 in the third quarter of 2008, versus $0.42 per fully diluted common share in the third quarter of 2007.

Reported net income for the third quarter of 2008 was $14.5 million, versus net income of $3.5 million, in the third quarter of 2007. Net income per fully diluted common share was $0.44 for the third quarter of 2008, versus $0.11 per fully diluted common share in the third quarter of 2007.

“We continued to achieve outstanding operational and financial results in the third quarter of 2008”, commented Brian M. Sondey, President and CEO of TAL International. “High core utilization combined with our fleet growth to drive our leasing revenues up 12% from the third quarter of 2007. We benefited from consistently strong on-hire activity throughout the third quarter as customers picked-up containers they had committed to lease in the first and second quarters. We also achieved high used container sale prices and increased equipment trading volumes, which translated into exceptionally strong disposal gains and trading margins. Our financial results in the third-quarter were further supported by a $2.8 million gain from the sale of several container portfolios to outside investors. We undertook these sales primarily to expand our network of third-party container investors and diversify our funding sources. Overall, our strong operating performance in the third quarter led to a 37% increase in our Adjusted Pretax Income compared to the third quarter of last year, while our adjusted pretax results increased 12% from the second quarter of 2008. We are very pleased with these results.”

Adjusted pre-tax income(1), excluding unrealized gains / losses on interest rate swaps, was $82.4 million in the first nine months of 2008, compared to $63.5 million in the first nine months of 2007, an increase of approximately 30%.

Leasing revenues for the nine months of 2008 were $235.7 million compared to $208.8 million in the first nine months of 2007. Adjusted EBITDA (2), including principal payments on finance leases, was $231.7 million for the first nine months of 2008 versus $193.9 million in the prior year period.

Adjusted Net Income (3), excluding unrealized gains / losses on interest rate swaps, was $53.2 million for the first nine months of 2008, compared to $40.8 million in the prior year period, an increase of approximately 30%. Adjusted Net Income per fully diluted common share was $1.62 for the first nine months of 2008, compared to Adjusted Net Income per fully diluted common share of $1.22 in the prior year period.

Reported net income for the first nine months of 2008 was $51.1 million, versus net income of $35.4 million, in the prior year period. Earnings per fully diluted common share for the first nine months of 2008 were $1.56, versus $1.06 per fully diluted common share in the prior year period.

Mr. Sondey continued “Our operating and financial results have been supported so far this year by a favorable operating environment. For most of this year, global trade growth has remained solid despite the economic slowdown in the United States, and demand for leased containers has been further supported by a reduction in the number of containers directly purchased by our shipping line customers. We have also benefited from high steel and new container prices which have supported the lease rates and utilization of our existing container fleet and supported the disposal prices for our used containers.”

“However, the expectation that we may be heading into a global recession has lowered the level of projected containerized trade growth for 2009, and Clarkson’s Research Services has revised their January 2008 growth forecast for 2009 from 9.8% to 7.2%. In addition, steel prices in China have decreased substantially, and we expect that new container prices will decrease from their recent high level.”

“While our business environment may become more challenging as we move forward into the end of this year and 2009, we remain optimistic about the performance for TAL. As mentioned above, containerized trade growth is still expected to be positive in 2009, and we believe that direct container purchases by our shipping line customers will continue to be constrained, moving more container demand to leasing companies like TAL. Furthermore, while there is concern in the industry about a possible excess supply of vessel capacity due to large, multi-year vessel purchase commitments, containers are ordered only a few months in advance and we do not expect to face an excess supply of containers in the market. Also, up to 80% of our containers are currently on long-term leases, finance leases or other leases with significant drop-off protections, and our container utilization has remained strong despite the end of the summer peak season.”

“Overall, we expect our operating performance in the fourth quarter to remain quite strong. Our financial results will likely decrease from the third quarter level since we do not expect to repeat the gain on sale of container portfolios, and disposal and trading volumes typically drop in the fourth quarter. However, we will benefit from reduced depreciation as another vintage year of containers reaches the end of its depreciable life in November, and we expect our results to stay ahead of our fourth quarter results from last year.”

Dividend

TAL’s board of directors has approved and declared a $0.4125 per share quarterly cash dividend on its issued and outstanding common stock, payable on December 10, 2008 to shareholders of record at the close of business on November 19, 2008.

Investors’ Webcast

TAL will hold a Webcast at 9 a.m. (New York time) on Thursday, November 6^th to discuss its fiscal third quarter and nine month results. An archive of the Webcast will be available one hour after the live call through Friday November 28, 2008. To access the live Webcast or archive, please visit the Company’s Web site at http://www.talinternational.com.

About TAL International Group, Inc.

TAL is one of the world's largest lessors of intermodal freight containers and chassis with 20 offices in 11 countries and approximately 186 third party container depot facilities in 36 countries. The Company's global operations include the acquisition, leasing, re-leasing and subsequent sale of multiple types of intermodal containers. TAL's fleet consists of approximately 730,000 containers and related equipment representing approximately 1,187,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). This places TAL among the world's largest independent lessors of intermodal containers and chassis as measured by fleet size.

Important Cautionary Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release regarding TAL International Group, Inc.'s business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned that these statements involve risks and uncertainties, are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future events or results. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 10, 2008.

The Company’s views, estimates, plans and outlook as described within this document may change subsequent to the release of this statement. The Company is under no obligation to modify or update any or all of the statements it has made herein despite any subsequent changes the Company may make in its views, estimates, plans or outlook for the future.

(1) Adjusted pre-tax income is a non-GAAP measurement we believe is useful in evaluating our operating performance. The Company’s definition and calculation of adjusted pre-tax income is outlined in the attached schedules.

(2) Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measurement we believe are useful in evaluating our operating performance. The Company’s definition and calculation of Adjusted EBITDA is outlined in the attached schedules.

(3) Adjusted net income is a non-GAAP measurement we believe is useful in evaluating our operating performance. The Company’s definition and calculation of adjusted net income is outlined in the attached schedules.

(1)(2)(3) Please see page 8 for a detailed reconciliation of these financial measurements.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We use the terms "EBITDA", “Adjusted EBITDA”, "Adjusted Pre-tax Income", and "Adjusted Net Income" throughout this press release. EBITDA is defined as net income before interest and debt expense, income tax expense and depreciation and amortization, and excludes unrealized gains /losses on interest rate swaps. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA plus principal payments on finance leases.

Adjusted Pre-tax Income is defined as income before income taxes as further adjusted for certain items which are described in more detail below, which management believes are not representative of our operating performance. Adjusted Pre-tax Income excludes the unrealized gains / losses on interest rate swaps. Adjusted Net Income is defined as net income further adjusted for the items discussed above, net of income tax.

EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Pre-tax Income, and Adjusted Net Income are not presentations made in accordance with GAAP, and should not be considered as alternatives to, or more meaningful than, amounts determined in accordance with GAAP, including net income, or net cash from operating activities.

We believe that EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Pre-tax Income, and Adjusted Net Income are useful to an investor in evaluating our operating performance because:

-- these measures are widely used by securities analysts and investors to measure a company's operating performance without regard to items such as interest and debt expense, income tax expense, depreciation and amortization and unrealized gains / losses on interest rate swaps, which can vary substantially from company to company depending upon accounting methods and book value of assets, capital structure and the method by which assets were acquired;

-- these measures help investors to more meaningfully evaluate and compare the results of our operations from period to period by removing the impact of our capital structure, our asset base and certain non-routine events which we do not expect to occur in the future; and

-- these measures are used by our management for various purposes, including as measures of operating performance to assist in comparing performance from period to period on a consistent basis, in presentations to our board of directors concerning our financial performance and as a basis for strategic planning and forecasting.

We have provided reconciliations of net income, the most directly comparable GAAP measure, to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA in the tables below for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2008 and 2007.

Additionally, we have provided reconciliations of income before income taxes and net income, the most directly comparable GAAP measures to Adjusted Pre-tax Income and Adjusted Net Income in the tables below for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2008 and 2007.

(a) All net income adjustments are reflected net of income taxes.

TAL International Group, Inc.
Jeffrey Casucci, 914-697-2900
Vice President
Treasury and Investor Relations