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4/11/2002Freight News

Greenbrier banks on rail-car backlog boost

The Greenbrier Cos. Inc. April 10 announced that its rail-car manufacturing backlog as of Feb. 28 stood at 1,900 units valued at $100 million — a $30 million valuation drop compared with a Nov. 30 backlog of 2,400 units.
But Greenbrier Feb. 8 received new orders totaling $50 million for nearly 900 rail cars from North American and European customers — about 800 of which are pegged for North American forest-products service — which company officials believe will boost Greenbrier's backlog well into fall.
And the company Feb. 15 announced plans to reopen its Trenton, Nova Scotia, TrentonWorks plant based on the order.
Greenbrier April 10 also announced $19.2 million in pre-tax write-downs and other special charges for its second quarter, which ended Feb. 28. Greenbrier Europe, which Greenbrier Cos. plans to downsize, accounted for $14.8 million of the write-downs.
Because of the special charges, Greenbrier reported a second-quarter net loss of $16.8 million, compared with net earnings of $70,000 in second-quarter fiscal year 2001. The company also recorded $99 million in second-quarter revenues compared with $157 million.
For six months ended Feb. 28, Greenbrier reported $179 million in revenues and a net loss of $21.9 million, compared with $311 million in revenues and $3.1 million in net earnings during a similar fiscal-year period.