CHICAGO -- The Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corp., fresh from a merger that made it the nation's third largest rail system, said profits jumped 108 percent to $739.9 million in 1983, but fourth quarter earnings fell 14.7 percent to $85.2 million.
The company said Tuesday its combined net income last year came to $739.9 million, or $3.93 a share, on revenues of $5.98 billion. This compared with 1982 combined earnings of $355.5 million, or $1.87 a share, on revenues of $5.96 billion.
In the final three months of 1983, the railroad earned $85.2 million, or 45 cents a share, on revenues of $1.59 billion compared with $100.2 million, or 54 cents a share, on revenues of $1.45 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Santa Fe Industries Inc., parent company of the 12,300-mile Santa Fe rail system, and Southern Pacific Co., parent of the 13,800-mile Southern Pacific system, merged Dec. 23, 1983.
The $5.2 billion merger -- which awaits Interstate Commerce Commission approval -- made the company the third largest rail line in the United States, behind the Burlington Northern and the C.S.X. rail systems.
As a separate entity, Santa Fe Industries earned $235.2 million in 1983 and and $59.2 million in the fourth quarter compared with $211.2 million for all of 1982 and $41.3 million in that year's final three months.
Southern Pacific Co.'s separate earnings came to $504.7 million last year and $26 million in the fourth quarter compared with $144.3 million for all of 1982 and $58.9 in that year's fourth quarter.
Southern Pacific sold its Sprint long-distance telephone operations in June 1983 to General Telephone, a spokeswoman for the merged company said. A 1983 agreement to sell Southern Pacific's Ticor Title Insurance Co. is expected to be completed Feb. 3, she added.
To reflect the sale of these operations, the combined earnings report put 1983 net income from continuing operations at $333.4 million, or $1.77 a share, compared with $307.9 million, or $1.62 a share, in 1982.
In the fourth quarter, net income from continuing operations was $84 million, or 44 cents a share, up from $68.1 million, or 36 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.
