CN expecting 20% growth in fourth quarter

News Release
CN Rail

CN announced today the company's earnings guidance for the fourth quarter of 2005 and full-year 2006, along with an ambitious financial agenda for the railway through 2010.
CN will tell its 2005 Investors' Conference here this morning that it now expects to report diluted earnings per share growth of 20 per cent for the fourth quarter of 2005. The company will also state that its objective for 2006 is to generate diluted earnings per share growth in the range of 10 to 15 per cent, along with free cash flow of $1 billion.
CN's new vision is anchored on continued, profitable revenue growth, and targets annual revenues of $9 billion-plus by the end of 2010. The company will also discuss plans today to reach the following targets over the next five years:
- An operating ratio closing in on 60 per cent by the end of 2010;
- Diluted earnings per share growth of 10 per cent-plus in each of the next five years, and
- Steady free cash flow of $1 billion annually.
CN's financial vision is premised, among various factors, on sustained economic growth across North America, oil prices settling in at US$55 per barrel, and a Canadian dollar moving toward US$0.85.
Starting at 8.15 a.m. Eastern time (ET) today, CN's senior officers will outline other key elements of the company's 2010 Vision, including growth strategies for intermodal and merchandise traffic, new capacity investments, productivity improvements and CN's innovative Smart Yard project to make traditional switching practices at its largest yards more flexible and efficient.