(The following appeared on The Journal of Commerce website on April 27, 2011.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Canadian National Railway boosted its profit 31 percent in the first quarter to nearly US$702 million and raised its full-year financial outlook.
CN’s revenue grew 6 percent from a year earlier to about $2.2 billion, on a 3 percent gain in traffic counts and 5 percent rise in revenue ton-miles. Average per-shipment revenue also grew 3 percent.
The railroad’s net income increased to 32 percent of receipts, from a 26 percent profit margin in the 2010 period. Its operating ratio of expenses to revenue improved to 69 percent from 69.3 percent.
CN ended the January-March quarter with 22,525 employees, up 3.6 percent from the same point in 2010.
Full story: www.joc.com.