CT short-rail operator deal hungry

Regional railroad Genesee & Wyoming Inc. says fourth-quarter net income fell 28 percent from a year earlier, but the Greenwich short line rail operator says it has cash and credit aplenty to do deals.

Genesee & Wyoming (GWI) reported net income in the three months ended Dec. 31 of $18.3 million vs. $25.3 million a year earlier. GWI's orange-black-and-yellow locomotives are visible along track paralleling Route 9 in Middletown,extending into Cromwell and beyond.

GWI's revenues fell 6.2 percent to $139.9 million from $149.2 million in the same period.

President and CEO John C. Hellmann looked beyond the quarterly results for his optimism about the company's outlook.

"In 2009, we generated $75 million of free cash flow, which was the second best performance in company history,'' Hellmann said. "With $106 million of cash on our balance sheet and an undrawn revolving credit facility, we continue to actively evaluate acquisition and investment opportunities in both North America and Australia.''

GWI has operations in the United States, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands which include 62 railroads organized in nine regions, with approximately 6,000 miles of owned and leased track and approximately 3,400 additional miles under track access arrangements.