Article: QR on track for good year

[ozbob]

From Courier Mail click here!

QR on track for good year

QR on track for good year
Article from: The Courier-Mail

James McCullough

April 16, 2008 12:00am

QUEENSLAND Rail is on target to post a substantially improved after-tax profit for the full year despite torrential downpours impacting on the state's production of coal.

QR chief executive officer Lance Hockridge said January and February were bad months because of the rain but March was an improvement.

Chief financial officer Deborah O'Toole said it was too early to say what the full impact would be, but the second half would be slower than the first.

But last year's after-tax profit of $183 million had already been eclipsed in the first half of the 2007-08 year, she said.

The full result for the year to June 30, announced in October, would be a substantial lift on last year.

"But this does not mean the profit will double. We will have a good solid result, but not an astronomical bottom line figure," she said.

QR last year posted a 27 per cent rise in full-year revenue to $3.25 billion.

Ms O'Toole said revenue in the current year should land between that figure and rising to above $4 billion.

Mr Hockridge also painted an encouraging outlook for QR given the recent raft of structural and commercial changes within the group.

He said the industry was clearly in better shape with record coal contracts recently negotiated.

"But offsetting this were a lot of cost pressures to bear such as higher fuel and labour charges," he said.

"It will be a very solid year and good improvement on 2006-07 but there is still a lot of work to be done."

[ButFli]

This is just more evidence why QR should not be sold off either privately or as a public offering. The people of Queensland have invested too much money to create the QR of today to just sell it off for short term gain. These profits should be used to benefit Queenslanders, not line the pockets of shareholders from god-knows-where.