Revenues increased by 23.1% to 227.3 million euro due to good traffic performance on the main toll roads and the entry into service of new projects.
Expanding presence abroad: 80.1% of EBITDA and 70.2% of revenues were generated outside.
Growth was driven by positive revenue performance, the addition of new assets, entry into service of new toll roads, and expansion in the car park business.
Cintra, which specialises in bidding for and managing toll roads and car parks, increased EBITDA by 24% in 1Q07 to 148.7 million euro, bringing the EBITDA margin to 65.4%. In 1Q07, 80.1% of EBITDA came from other countries, especially Canada, the US, Portugal, Ireland and Chile.
Growth in the company's main operating and financial line-items was due to: positive traffic performance on most toll roads; the toll increase on 407 ETR; the addition of the Indiana Toll Road; full consolidation of the Talca-Chillán toll road and acquisition of the Bosque toll road (both in Chile); opening of the Ocaña-La Roda toll road in Spain; and growth in the number of managed parking spaces.
Revenues amounted to 227.3 million euro, i.e. 23.1% more than in 1Q06. Foreign revenues increased by 27% to 159.5 million euro and accounted for 70.2% of the total. Domestic revenues exceeded 67.8 euro.
Toll roads: new contracts in Europe and the USA and traffic growth
Cintra's toll road area, including the holding companies, increased revenues by 26.1% to 193.7 million euro, 85.2% of the company's total revenues.
In 1Q07, toll road EBITDA grew by 24.5% to 136.5 million euro and accounted for 92% of total EBITDA. The 407 ETR in Canada contributed 38% of that figure as a result of strong growth in revenues and containment of operating expenses.
Other contributors to growth were: proportionate consolidation of the Indiana Toll Road; full consolidation of the Talca-Chillán toll road; commencement of billing for traffic on the Norte Litoral toll road (Portugal); and opening to traffic of the Ocaña-La Roda toll road, with the consequent surge of revenues on the R-4, which is a direct continuation.
The EBITDA margin, including holding companies, was 70.5%, with improvements at 407 ETR, R-4 and N4/N6.
Traffic increased considerably on the main roads in the period:
- Canada- 407 ETR averaged 278,607 daily trips (+3.65%) and vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT) rose 3.83% to 479,526,161.
- USA - Chicago Skyway attained 43,781 vehicles per day, 4.58% less than in 1Q06 because of adverse weather conditions; the Indiana Toll Road attained average daily traffic of 26,653.
- Spain - Traffic increased to 18,847 vehicles per day on Ausol I (+6.14%) and 19,436 on Ausol II (+15.88%); and traffic on Autema increased by 9.8% to 24,302 vehicles per day on average. The R-4 road increased traffic by 46.15% to 8,899.
- Ireland - Traffic on the N4/N6 increased by 15.07% to 21,402 vehicles/dayvehicles per day.
The main events in this area were:
- Selection in February as Provisional Contractor to design, finance, build and operate the Central Greece Motorway E-65 under a 30-year concession; the 231-km. project represents an investment of approximately 1.5 billion euro and is Cintra's second in Greece.
- Selection in February as best proposal for the construction and operation, over 50 years, of the 41.6 kilometre-long Texas State Highway 121.Investment in the project is estimated at 3.463 billion euro.
- Signature of the contract for construction and operation of segments 5 and 6 of Texas State Highway 130.
- Signature of the concession contract for construction and operation of the 50 kilometre-long M-3 toll road in Ireland, for 45 years.
- The application of new tolls on 407 ETR: an 8.3% increase for light vehicles at peak hours and 8.4% at off-peak hours; and the implementation of an incentive programme for light vehicles that are regular users of 407 ETR, who will receive free weekend kilometres and fuel discount vouchers.
Car parks: 5.3% increase in the number of parking spaces
Cintra's car park business registered 33.6 million euro in revenues in 1Q07, 8.1% more than in 1Q06, due partly to an increase in the number of managed parking spaces. EBITDA in this segment increased by 18.3% to 12.2 million euro and EBIT amounted to 8.5 million euro, a 36.4% increase with respect to 1Q06.
Cintra currently manages 253,285 parking spaces, 5.3% more than in 1Q06. The number of off-street parking spaces increased by 9.4% and now represents 27.8% of the total; on-street spaces increased by 4.4% to 155,946 (61.6% of the total); and private residents' parking spaces totalled 26,825 (+0.1%), accounting for 10.6% of the total.
During the quarter, Cintra Aparcamientos was awarded, among others, five new contracts, including the contracts to manage the airport car parks in Tenerife Norte and Lanzarote (Canary Islands) and an off-street parking concession in Estella (Navarra). The on-street parking management contract in Baracaldo (Vizcaya) was also renewed and expanded.
