CEO
“It was a tough quarter. I’m not here to make any excuses," Creel told analysts on a conference call Wednesday.
He said weather and COVID-19 hurdles were "uncontrollable" with roughly 500 employees going on sick leave due to the Omicron variant.
"This was going to be a tale of two halves."
The Calgary-based company reported results a day after rival
Volume dropped across all nine shipment categories, from energy to automotive, though revenue increased in five of them due partly to price hikes.
Revenue from grain shipments — typically the railroad operator's biggest money maker — tumbled 20 per cent, putting it below container traffic. Grain carloads plunged 28 per cent, despite a major boost in
A frigid winter reduced freight capacity, as low temperatures impair a train's air-brake systems, necessitating shorter trains and slower speeds.
Fuel costs rose by a third year over year, further slimming profit margins. And supply chain snarls, including equipment backlogs and a global computer chip shortage, brought down automotive revenues by 16 per cent.
“It was tough to build any momentum and rhythm despite what I would consider a strong demand environment," said chief marketing officer
Nonetheless, CP's outlook for the year remains “largely unchanged,” Creel said. He still expects double-digit growth in revenue ton miles — the industry metric gauges revenue per volume of freight transported — in the second half of 2022.
He said CP has submitted data to clarify what the
The STB's request for that data put the regulator's review of the purchase on pause.
“We do not see this material as delaying the combination. We still anticipate a ruling, at the latest, by early 2023,” Creel said, noting the pause is ongoing.
The
CP said total net income slipped to
First-quarter revenues fell to
Diluted earnings per share plunged to
The first-quarter operating ratio hit 70.9 per cent versus 60.2 per cent a year earlier. The figure measures a railway's efficiency, dividing operating expenses by net sales — the lower the number the better.
This report by
Companies in this story: (TSX:CP)
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