(The Associated Press circulated the following article on July 28.)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Railroad giant CSX Corp. reported Wednesday that second-quarter earnings fell 6 percent as the company completed a restructuring of its management staff.
In the three months ended June 25, the nation’s third largest railroad reported net income of $119 million, or 55 cents per share, compared with $127 million, or 59 cents a share, a year ago.
Excluding an after-tax charge of $9 million related to the restructuring, earnings were $128 million, or 60 cents per share. That beat the average estimate of 58 cents a share from analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.
The Jacksonville-based company announced last November it would cut 800 to 1,000 nonunion management jobs in a move expected to save $80 million to $100 million a year.
Revenues were $2.03 billion for the second quarter, compared with $1.94 billion a year ago.
“We are taking actions to improve our service and deliver more to the bottom line. Our management restructuring and organizational streamlining is now complete. We’re adding operating resources to meet continued, expected demand,” said Michael J. Ward, CSX chairman and chief executive officer.
“While we’re encouraged by some of the initial results, we still have a way to go to rebuild the reliability, consistency and discipline required to produce continuous and consistent improvement,” he told analysts in a conference call.
For the first six months of the year, CSX reported net income of $149 million, or 69 cents a share, compared to $226 million, or $1.05 a share, a year earlier. Revenue edged up to $3.996 billion from $3.958 billion.
“Looking ahead, we expect to see continued strong volumes across most of our markets, in line with economic growth projections for the balance of the year,” Ward said.
CSX shares climbed $1.29, or more than 4 percent, to close at $31.45 on the New York Stock Exchange.