CN quarterly results hit by severe winter weather Stiff winter weather led Canadian National Railway Co. to declining quarterly profits, despite a rise in revenue and carloads. CN's earnings announcement had been expected after financial markets closed on Monday, but the company inadvertently released the results two hours prior. The official earnings announcement was then widely released at around 2:45 p.m. Company watchers were expecting the winter, which was more severe than a year ago, to have worsened congestion and delays along CN's rail network. In the first quarter 2013, CN's net income was $555-million, or $1.30 a share, compared with $775-million, or $1.75 a share in the same period a year ago. The company's operating ratio - a closely watched percentage of costs compared to revenue - worsened to 68.4 per cent, from 66.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2012. CN also announced it will pay a 43 cent dividend for the second quarter on June 28, to shareholders on record as of June 7. "CN faced a number of operational challenges in the first quarter, including extreme cold and heavy snow in Western Canada, which hampered operations, congested the network and constrained volume growth," said CN's president and chief executive officer Claude Mongeau. The railway's results had been scheduled to be released after 4 p.m. ET, but were inadvertently sent out at 2 p.m. before apparently being removed from online sites. Shortly after the error, a CN spokesman said that "CN will release its full results as soon as possible." On the Toronto Stock Exchange, CN's shares were down 34 cents at $98.14 in afternoon trading Monday.