News: Asciano expecting a 22% earnings rise

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Asciano Limited (ASX:AIO) are expecting a 22 per cent rise in full year earnings despite a difficult third quarter.



The rail and ports operator says it is anticipating full year earnings before interest and tax to be $530 million to $540 million, which would be a marked increase on last year’s result of $439.56 million.



Extreme weather and the earthquake in Japan saw the company report significant falls in activity during the March quarter.



In February, Asciano said increased earnings from its Queensland coal haulage operations, boosted its first half profit by 18.7 per cent to $93.9 million.