Genesee & Wyoming Inc , which owns and operates short-line and regional railroads, posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings, helped by a rise in freight revenue, and said it expects to complete its acquisition of Australia's FreightLink in November.

The company, with a market value of about $1.91 billion, expects its Australian business to contribute about one-third of its total revenue on completion of the acquisition.

Genesee & Wyoming acquired Australia's FreightLink, which owned and operated the Adelaide-to-Darwin railway, for A$334 million in June.

Genesee & Wyoming operates railroads in the United States, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands, and transports commodities such as coal, paper, metals and minerals.

For the third quarter, the company reported earnings of $24.8 million, or 59 cents a share, compared with $21.7 million, or 53 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

It earned 53 cents a share from continuing operations.

Revenue rose 15 percent to $156.5 million. Freight revenue rose more than 15 percent to $95.9 million.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 49 cents a share, on revenue of $158.2 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. (Reuters)