(BNSF issued the following news release on January 25.)
FORT WORTH, Texas — Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation today reported all-time record quarterly earnings of $0.91 per share, a 49 percent increase over fourth- quarter 2003 earnings of $0.61 per share.
“For the third consecutive quarter, BNSF experienced unprecedented market demand from its customers. As a result, BNSF achieved all-time record volumes and revenues,” said Matthew K. Rose, BNSF Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “This performance coupled with our continuing focus on expense control produced all-time record quarterly earnings. I want to congratulate our employees for successfully handling the historic volumes we moved during 2004.”
Fourth-quarter 2004 freight revenues increased $464 million, or 19 percent, to an all-time quarterly record of $2.92 billion compared with 2003 fourth-quarter revenues of $2.46 billion. Consumer Products revenues increased $212 million, or 22 percent, to an all-time quarterly record of $1.18 billion as a result of double-digit increases in the international intermodal, truckload, and perishables sectors. Industrial Products revenues increased $89 million, or 16 percent, to $631 million reflecting strong demand in the building products, petroleum products, and construction products sectors. Coal revenues rose $90 million, or 17 percent, to $615 million resulting from record haulage of 66 million tons for utility customers. Agricultural Products revenues were up $73 million, or 17 percent, to $492 million driven by strong export moves to the Pacific Northwest.
Operating expenses of $2.31 billion were $295 million, or 15 percent, higher than the same period in 2003, primarily driven by a 10-percent increase in gross ton-miles and higher fuel prices.
Fourth-quarter operating income increased $191 million, or 40 percent, year-over-year to $668 million. BNSF’s operating ratio decreased three and one-half percentage points to 77.1 percent from 80.6 percent in the prior year.
BNSF’s subsidiary, BNSF Railway Company, operates one of the largest railroad networks in North America, with about 32,000 route miles covering 28 states and two Canadian provinces. The railway is among the world’s top transporters of intermodal traffic, moves more grain than any other American railroad, transports the components of many of the products we depend on daily, and hauls enough coal to generate about ten percent of the electricity produced in the United States. BNSF is an industry leader in Web-enabling a variety of customer transactions at http://www.bnsf.com