Kansas City Southern posts solid financial results

Kansas City Southern posts solid financial results    Kansas City Southern (KCS), the transportation holding company with railroad investments in the United States, Mexico and Panama, reported record fourth quarter and year-end 2004 revenues and operating income.
   KCS’s fourth quarter net income was $700,000 compared to a $5.2-million net loss in the same quarter 2003. Operating income was $27.4 million, compared to an operating loss of $6.8 million in 2003. KCS revenues increased 17.6 percent to $174.6 million, compared to $148.5 million in the year-earlier period.
   KCS said it and its primary domestic subsidiary, Kansas City Southern Railway Co., have made seven consecutive quarter-over-quarter gains in revenues.
   Fourth-quarter operating income for Kansas City Southern Railway was a record $31.7 million compared to a loss of $1.9 million in the same period 2003. Revenues jumped 18.2 percent to a record $173.7 million, compared to $147 million in the fourth quarter 2003.
      For the full year, KCS’s net income was $24.4 million, double the $12.2 million posted in 2003. Operating income jumped to $83.5 million from $29.1 million in 2003. KCS’s revenues increased 10 percent to $639.5 million from $581.3 million.
   Kansas City Southern Railway more than doubled its operating income to $101.0 million from $44.5 million. Revenues were a record $635.7 million, up 10.5 percent over $575.3 million posted in 2003.
   Kansas City Southern Railway’s traffic volumes increased 5.4 percent to just over 1 billion car loadings in 2004 compared with the prior year’s 992,699 carloadings.
   Kansas City Southern’s stock was up 3.13 percent at $17.46 at close on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday evening.