Russia's Transcontainer more than doubled first-half net profit ahead of a London and Moscow IPO in which state-controlled parent Russian Railways hopes to earn up to $481 million by selling a nearly 35 percent stake.

The country's biggest container freight operator saw net profit rise 2.2 times to 197 million roubles ($6.42 million) as revenues rose 29 percent to 9.9 billion roubles.

The strong results chime with a broad recovery in the Russian economy, which suffered a deep recession in 2009.

Transcontainer said it planned to invest 15.7 billion roubles in 2010-12, including the purchase of new containers and train carriages. (Reuters)