(Adds Q4 and CEO appointment details)
Jan 18 (Reuters) - Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd CP.TO CP.N , Canada's No. 2 railroad operator, reported a lower-than-expected adjusted quarterly profit, and named Chief Operating Officer Keith Creel as its chief executive, effective Jan. 31.
Creel will replace Hunter Harrison, who is retiring earlier than expected.
In April, a company spokesman said Harrison planned to serve out his contract that ends in June 2017. Calgary-based company reported a 20.4 percent jump in net income to C$384 million ($290 million), or C$2.61 per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, from C$319 million, or C$2.08 per share, a year earlier. certain items, the company earned $3.04 per share, missing the average analyst estimate of $3.11, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company said its operating ratio, a key metric, dropped to 56.2 percent from 59.8 percent a year earlier.
The lower the ratio, which measures operating costs as a percentage of revenue, the more efficient the railroad.
CP also said that it expects 2017 adjusted diluted profit in high single digits and plans to invest about $1.25 billion in capital programs in 2017, an increase of 6 percent over $1.18 billion spent in 2016.
Revenue fell about 3 percent to C$1.6 billion. Analysts on average had expected $1.65 billion. ($1 = C$1.33)