(The Associated Press circulated the following article on April 28.)
FORTH WORTH, Texas — Railroad operator Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. said Thursday that its profit rose sharply in the first quarter, lifted by strong gains in revenue across all of its divisions.
The nation’s second largest railroad company said quarterly income jumped 66 percent to $321 million, or 83 cents per share, from $193 million, or 52 cents, in the year-ago period. On average, analysts polled by Thomson Financial were looking for income of 73 cents per share.
Operating revenue totaled $2.98 billion for the quarter, an increase of 20 percent from $2.49 billion a year earlier. The company said volume grew 8.6 percent to reach 145.8 billion revenue ton miles, as revenue per thousand ton miles climbed to $19.88 from $18.23 last year.
By segment, revenue from shipping coal and industrial and agricultural products swelled 18 percent to $2.9 billion, while consumer-product shipments expanded 22 percent to $1.13 billion, Burlington added.