Earnings addendum: KCS posts record 2Q revenue

摘要

Kansas City Southern reported its second-quarter earnings after we'd completed our Class I financials round-up (see page 6), but we'll sneak them in here: Riding a "strong pricing environment," an increase in fuel surcharges and "significant growth in certain business units," KCS generated record revenue of $486.2 million, up 13.8 percent, and earned operating income of $104.6 million, up 29.9 percent compared with 2Q 2007 totals. Chemical and petroleum products revenue jumped 19.9 percent to $93.9 million; ag and mineral revenue rose 18.4 percent to $117.7 million; intermodal and automotive revenue increased 15.7 percent to $72.4 million (driven in part by a 44 percent increase in container volumes out of Mexico's Port of Lazaro Cardenas); industrial and consumer products revenue rose 12.4 percent to $140 million; and coal revenue went up 5.7 percent to $48.1 million. Carloadings increased 1.1 percent to 465,351 units compared with 2Q 2007's total primarily because chemical/petroleum products traffic jumped 13.2 percent and intermodal carloads, 5.2 percent. KCS also posted increases in velocity and locomotive availability, lower terminal dwell times and a two-point operating ratio improvement (to 78.5).