GATX reported Q4/15 net income of $58.2 million compared to net income of $58.5 million in Q4/14. Net income for the full-year 2015 was $205.3 million compared to $205.0 million in the prior year.

Rail North America segment profit of $98.8 million in Q4/15, up 18% compared to $83.7 million in Q4/14. The increase in quarterly segment profit was primarily attributable to higher lease rates, increased boxcar utilization revenue, and lower net maintenance expenses across the fleet.

Full-year, Rail North America reported segment profit of $379.5 million, compared to $321.0 million in 2014. Several items contributed to this increase in segment profit, including higher lease rates, a full-year contribution of the boxcar fleet acquired in March 2014, lower net maintenance expenses, and higher remarketing gains.

At December 31, 2015, the Rail North America wholly owned fleet was approximately 124,500 cars, including more than 18,400 boxcars.

Full year highlights for 2015 include:

• Fleet utilization remained above 99% for Rail North America (excluding the boxcar fleet) and above 95.5% for GATX Rail Europe.
• GATX Lease Price Index showed a positive 32.2% renewal rate change with an average renewal term of 54 months, which was in line with our expectations.
• GATX Rail North America renewal success rate was 81.4%.
• Investment volume was approximately $525 million for Rail North America and approximately $136 million for GRE.
• Historically high Rail North America remarketing income of approximately $67 million resulted from the company strategy to optimize its fleet by capitalizing on very attractive asset values.
• Rail North America committed lease revenue grew more than $600 million from the prior year to approximately $4.2 billion.
• In Portfolio Management, our engine leasing joint ventures with Rolls-Royce affiliates had a record earnings year.
• GATX acquired $125 million of its own stock during the year.

“GATX achieved excellent financial results in the fourth quarter, resulting in another record earnings year,” said Brian A. Kenney, president and chief executive officer. “In addition to producing outstanding financial results in 2015, our disciplined strategy has positioned GATX well for the long term. Over the last few years, we dramatically extended lease renewal terms at very attractive rates and optimized our fleet by selling select railcars into a robust secondary market. Additionally, we utilized our supply agreement to purchase new railcars at an attractive cost, limiting our spot market orders in a high-cost manufacturing environment.

“Rail North America performed exceptionally well in 2015. Our diverse and balanced fleet limited our exposure to any one particular commodity or car type. As a result, GATX LPI experienced a positive 32.2% renewal rate change in 2015 and we ended the year with fleet utilization of 99.1% (excluding the boxcar fleet) – all despite the industry growing over-supply of energy-related railcars. This over-supply did impact our fourth quarter LPI, which showed a positive 20.5% renewal rate change and an average renewal term of 43 months, both of which are down from the prior quarter.”