MOSCOW, November 7 (RIA Novosti) - Rail monopoly Russian Railways (RZD) said on Friday its net profit calculated to Russian Accounting Standards was down 24.9%, year-on-year, in the first nine months of 2008, to 31.93 billion rubles ($1.18 billion).
RZD's pre-tax earnings were up 15% year-on-year, at 838.74 billion rubles ($31 billion).
RZD CEO Vladimir Yakunin earlier said its 2008 net profits would be 50% less than expected due to the ongoing global financial crisis.
He also said the rail monopoly planned to cut its investment program in 2009 by 50 billion rubles ($1.8 billion) from the 480 billion rubles ($17.5 billion) projected for next year.
