CSX results take hit from resort writedown

CSX results take hit from resort writedown CSX Corp. reported fourth quarter profit of $247 million, a 32 percent decline from the same 2007 period.
   Results reflected a writedown in its investment in the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.W. The impairment loss as well as the loss from resort operations was $179 million.
   The company said revenue was $2.67 billion for the quarter, a 4 percent increase over the same 2007 period.
   Michael J. Ward, chairman, president and chief executive, said, “the company finished 2008 in a strong financial position and began taking aggressive actions in the quarter as the intensifying global recession dramatically impacted our business.”
   The company said higher yields and fuel recovery “more than offset the impact of significantly lower volumes. Operating income, on a comparable basis, increased 16 percent to $692 million.”
   CSX said it handled about 272,000 domestic intermodal units in the fourth quarter of 2008, about the same as in the prior year period. But the company’s international intermodal business amounted to 227,000 units in the fourth quarter of 2008, off 13 percent from the same quarter in 2007.
   Revenue per unit was up 4 percent for international intermodal “on long-term contract price increases and increased fuel recovery. Volumes were down on continued import softness and slowing exports,” CSX said. Domestic intermodal revenue per unit was off 6 percent “as increased fuel recovery was offset by mix impacts of incremental short-haul traffic and a competitive over-the-road pricing environment.”