Tuesday October 26, 7:44 am ET
CALGARY, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Canadian Pacific Railway today reported third-quarter 2004 net income of $177 million, or $1.11 per diluted share, compared with net income of $91 million, or $0.57 per diluted share in the same period of 2003. The increase included an after-tax gain of $73 million on foreign exchange on long-term debt. Volumes grew in six of seven business lines, including a 9-per-cent jump in intermodal, which is on pace to become a $1-billion business line for CPR this year.
Excluding foreign exchange gains and losses on long-term debt, income in third-quarter 2004 increased 9 per cent to $104 million, or $0.65 per diluted share, compared with $95 million, or $0.60 in third-quarter 2003.
Rob Ritchie, President and Chief Executive Officer of CPR, said: "I am very pleased with the ongoing growth in our business and the upward trend in CPR's yield and operating performance accomplished by our people, who are working to drive more of this growth to the bottom line. We successfully completed an unprecedented program of track maintenance on our busy western corridor in a compressed time period while moving more freight than ever before. With several pinch-points removed, more new locomotives arriving in the coming weeks and 500 new people now qualified to operate trains, CPR has entered the fall peak season well positioned to handle anticipated freight volumes and to keep our network fluid.
"Record world oil prices remain a challenge in the transportation sector. However, CPR's improved fuel surcharge program, which enables CPR to pass on higher prices more quickly, is generating solid results. The new surcharge program, in combination with indexing and a favourable hedge position, enabled CPR to recover about three-quarters of our price-related fuel cost increase in the third quarter," Mr. Ritchie said.