January 30, 2014 - 1:39 PM
MONTREAL - Canadian National Railway (TSX:CNR) increased its dividend by 16 per cent as its profits increased by four per cent to $635 million in the fourth quarter.
The country's largest railway says it will pay a quarterly dividend of 25 cents per share as of March 31.
The increase came as the railway reported a fourth-quarter profit of 76 cents per diluted share, up from $610 million or 71 cents in the prior year.
Revenue for the quarter increased 8.3 per cent to $2.745 billion from $2.53 billion a year ago.
CN was expected to earn 77 cents per share and $2.75 billion in revenues during the quarter, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
For the full year, the railway earned $2.6 billion or $3.09 per diluted share compared with a profit of $2.68 billion, or $3.06 per share in 2012.
Revenue for 2013 totalled $10.57 billion, up from $9.92 billion.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014