Railpower reports Q3 results: revenue rising along with losses
Railpower Technologies, the hybrid locomotive company, reported a 50 per cent rise in revenues in its third quarter, compared to its second quarter, but higher than expected production and re-engineering costs saw losses jump as well. The company had $6.44 million in revenues and a loss of $7.24 million.
The good news is that the company is getting a strong pipeline of orders from high-profile railway operators. It has also begun to expand into other locomotive markets and strike partnerships in the marine and other markets.
“We are looking ahead to 2006 with confidence and excitement,” said CEO Jim Maier. “We are installing processes and manufacturing discipline that we believe will result in improved margins in future quarters.”
The future may look good, but I’m not sure analysts were so happy with these unanticipated cost overruns. This is a great story, but investors have never been ones to be patient.
(UPDATE: Railpower’s stock is also holding up, so investors remain patient for now. The company also announced Thursday a memorandum of understanding with Mitsui Bussan Transportation System Co. to explore market opportunities in Japan. Certainly can’t hurt.)
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
