PRESENTing its results for the 1998 financial year on March 10, Ansaldo Signal reported revenue of US$354·5m, up 11·4% from 1997. Gross profit was up 40·2% at $77·1m and net income was $6·5m or $0·32 per share. This compares with Wall Street estimates of $0·15 for 1998 and a loss of $12·7m in 1997.

President & Chief Executive Officer James N Sanders attributed the strong operating results to ’improved markets and internal redesign programs’, with the order backlog at the end of 1998 up 2·5% at $792·2m. Ansaldo Signal subsidiaries had been successful in securing contracts in both home and export markets, with CSEE Transport of France winning an order for hot box detectors from Spanish National Railways, and Union Switch & Signal of the USA to supply Automatic Train Control systems to Atlanta, Miami and Philadephia.

US&S also won two contracts ’that position it favourably to enter new markets’ according to parent Ansaldo Signal. In partnership with Matra Transport International, US&S has signed an agreement with New York City Transit to design and demonstrate a Communications-Based Train Control system, and has been named by Railtrack of Great Britain as preferred bidder for the Network Management Centre covering the West Coast main line.

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