CN increases net income in Q4, 2014

Net income for Canadian National Railway increased 21 percent compared with 2013.    According to financial and operating results released by Canadian National Railway, the company’s net income for 2014 was $3.17 billion CAD ($2.52 billion USD), up 21 percent from $2.61 billion CAD ($2.08 billion USD) in 2013.
   Fourth-quarter net income for CN was $844 million CAD, up nearly 33 percent from $635 million CAD in Q4 2013.
   CN said 2014 freight volumes “reached record levels, with carloadings up eight per cent and revenue ton-miles up 10 per cent,” in a statement from the company. 
   Claude Mongeau, president and CEO of CN, said the results pointed toward continued growth in 2015.  “CN delivered a strong fourth-quarter 2014 performance, concluding a remarkable year characterized by brutal first-quarter winter weather, followed by a strong rebound starting in March, and capped by record full-year freight volumes,” Mongeau said. “We’re particularly proud of our solid operating performance that allowed us to move record volumes of Western Canadian grain and equally strong U.S. grain shipments.
   “Our agenda of Operational and Service Excellence is clearly working. This momentum is helping us to grow CN’s business faster than the overall economy and to do so at low incremental cost. This will provide us with a strong foundation for 2015, a year in which we see continued opportunities for growth in energy-related commodities, intermodal traffic, and commodities tied to U.S. housing construction, automotive sales and other consumer spending,” said Mongeau.
   Mongeau also announced the CN board of directors would increase the company’s quarterly cash dividend to $1.25 CAD per common share on an annualized basis, a 25 percent increase.
   “Given CN’s strong balance sheet and its solid outlook for earnings and free cash flow generation, I am pleased to announce that the company’s board of directors has approved a 25 percent increase in CN’s 2015 quarterly common-share dividend. CN has increased its dividend per share by 17 per cent per year on average since its privatization in 1995,” said Mongeau.