(Reuters distributed the following story on July 30.)
MIAMI — Kansas City Southern, the U.S. rail group planning to change its name to Nafta Rail, on Wednesday reported a quarterly loss amid sluggish cargo volumes and disappointing results from a Mexican railway.
The Kansas City, Missouri, holding group for freight-hauler Kansas City Southern Railway said losses were $500,000, or 3 cents a share, in the second quarter. In 2002’s second quarter, the company earned $14.5 million, or 23 cents a share.
Wall Street had expected Kansas City Southern, which also owns rail interests in Panama, to earn between a penny a share and 4 cents a share in the quarter, with a consensus profit forecast of 3 cents, according to Reuters Research, a unit of Reuters Group Plc.
The results also came in below an earnings caution issued by Kansas City Southern on July 21, when the company said its share profits would be in the low single cents, rather than the 19 cents a share then forecast by analysts.
Kansas City Southern said its quarterly results had been hurt by a $2.3 million loss associated with its stake in Grupo Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana, S.A. de C.V., or Grupo TFM.
Grupo TFM’s results were dragged down by tax expenses largely tied to the U.S. dollar weakening against the Mexican peso, Kansas City Southern said in a news release.
Quarterly revenues at Kansas City Southern were $146.3 million, 5 percent more than the $139.2 million posted for the year-ago quarter.
Kansas City Southern on April 21 announced a deal to buy control of Mexico’s main rail-freight line to the U.S. border in a cash-and-stock deal worth about $400 million.