Steep drops in the volumes of fertilizer, coal and other products Canadian Pacific Railway carries on its network contributed to a 31 per cent drop in first-quarter profits, the Calgary-based railway said Thursday.
With carloads down 19 per cent from a year ago, earnings for the first three months of 2009 were $62.5 million, down from $90.7 million in the same year-ago period.
“This was a tough quarter for us financially as we were hit hard by unprecedented volume declines, which were magnified by the loss of our coal and potash business,” chief financial officer Kathryn McQuade told an analyst conference call.
Canadian Pacific has issued temporary layoffs to keep costs down.
Quarterly revenues fell by seven per cent to $1.07 billion from $1.15 billion.
