Union Pacific Corp has reported a net income of $311 million, compared to $128 million in the prior year period. This was the best first quarter earnings ever posted by the company.
Operating revenue reached a record $3.7 billion (Q1 2005: $3.2bn). Operating income almost doubled to $605 million (up 93% from $313m in Q1 2005), and the operating ratio improved by 6.4 points to 83.7% (Q1 2005: 90.1%).
Commodity revenue was up 18% to an all-time quarterly record of $3.5 billion (Q1 2005: $3bn).
Q1 2006 commodity revenue per sector compared to Q1 2005 was: agricultural up 26%, automotive, industrial products and intermodal up 23% each, chemicals up 14% and energy up 5%.
“This quarter was positive for us in many ways,” said president & CEO Jim Young. “We experienced record growth in our business, moved these volumes more efficiently and improved our bottom-line results. Most importantly, we provided better service to our customers.”
Young said that, looking ahead, the company sees solid demand, which should support future volume and yield growth.
“Our challenge will be to continue to handle that growth more efficiently,” he said. “Although we made progress in the quarter with our operating initiatives, we have a long way to go before we are satisfied with our service, velocity and returns. We will work hard over the weeks and months ahead to make further improvement.”
