ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 24, 1996 TAG: 9610240022
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
WITH THREE MONTHS left in the year, Norfolk Southern has already had the third best year in its history.
Norfolk Southern Corp. reported another quarter of record financial results Wednesday, although the news was overshadowed by the company's announcement that it was topping CSX Corp.'s bid for Conrail.
With three months remaining to be accounted for this year, NS has already had the third best year in the company's 14-year history, Henry Wolf, NS' executive vice president for finance, told a briefing of Wall Street securities analysts in New York. He said NS is looking at a good fourth quarter as well.
NS reported third-quarter profits of $202.3 million, the first time quarterly net income had surpassed $200 million. The results were a 10 percent improvement over the same period last year.
Chairman David Goode said the record quarterly profit underscores the financial strength NS would bring to a combination with Conrail, the primary freight railroad serving the industrial Northeast.
NS' earnings per share for the quarter jumped 15 percent compared with the same period a year ago to a record $1.61.
The growth in NS' automotive freight business of 13 percent above last year's level and in chemical traffic of 10 percent was an important part of third-quarter performance, Goode said. Other categories of freight carried by NS that showed quarterly increases were intermodal, up 5 percent; metals and construction, up 3 percent; and coal up 1 percent.
Revenues from NS' North American Van Lines subsidiary were up 2 percent to $191.2 million in the quarter.
Nine month railway and total transportation revenues also set records.
NS was able to hold its operating expenses for the quarter even with last year despite a 19 percent increase in diesel-fuel prices, Goode noted. For the nine-month period, expenses were up 1 percent to $2.7 billion.
NS' railway operating ratio, the amount of money spent to operate the railroad compared to revenues, set record lows for both the quarter and nine-month periods.
The third quarter ratio was 70.6 percent compared with 72.1 percent last year and the nine-month figure was 72 percent compared with 73.1 in 1995.
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by staff: Norfolk Southern Corp. color. KEYWORDS: MGRby CNB