- EBIT increased by 36.1% to 380.5 million euro. Revenues rose by 20.3% to 766.5 million euro due to good traffic performance on the main toll roads and the fact that new assets came into operation.
- Expanding international presence: 78% of EBITDA and 69% of revenues were obtained outside Spain.
- In 2007, Cintra has signed the concession contracts for the Central Greece Motorway, the M-3 (Ireland) and the SH-130 (Texas).
- The number of parking spaces under management increased by 2.5%.
Cintra, a company specialised in managing toll roads and car parks, increased EBITDA by 20.8% to 520.5 million euro in the first nine months of 2007. Revenues amounted to 766.5 million euro, 20.3% more than in the same period of 2006.
Growth in those two variables was due basically to rising traffic on the main toll roads, the addition of the Indiana Toll Road, the opening of the Ocaña-La Roda toll road in Spain, full consolidation of the Talca-Chillán toll road in Chile, acquisition of the Bosque toll road (Chile) and commencement of traffic-based billing on the Norte-Litoral toll road in Portugal. These factors offset the depreciation of the main currencies against the euro.
Between January and September, overseas revenues increased by 24.1% to 529.2 million euro and now account for 69% of the total. Canada is the main source of revenues, providing 33.8% of the total.
Toll roads: new contracts and traffic performance
Cintra's toll road area, including holding companies, increased revenues by 22.5% to 661 million euro. That figure is 86% of the company's total revenues. EBITDA rose by 22.1% to 483.3 million euro, while EBIT increased by 38.1% to 355.6 million euro.
The company's main asset, 407 Express Toll Route in Toronto, contributed 39.2% of the toll road division's revenues and 42.4% of EBITDA. Traffic on 407 ETR increased by 5.9% in the first nine months of 2007, and the road set another traffic record on 8 October: 445,822 trips.
Traffic performance in the main countries was as follows:
- Canada - Traffic increased by 5.9% to 1,673.3 million vehicle-kilometres travelled (VKT). This increase reflects the positive impact of opening additional lanes over the last two years: a total of 100 kilometres of new lane on the road's central sections. Traffic growth, plus the 8.3% increase in peak tolls, boosted revenues by 13.5% in Canadian dollars.
- USA - Chicago Skyway registered average daily traffic of 50,197 vehicles, a 1% decline. This slight reduction was caused by work on the Dan Ryan Expressway and highway 294, which is an alternative route for heavy vehicles. Traffic on the Indiana Toll Road (ITR), averaging 31,986 vehicles per day, was also affected by work on connecting roads and the partial closure of some sections to add an additional lane each way. ITR increased tolls for heavy vehicles by 25% in April.
- Spain - Traffic on Ausol I increased by 3.7% to 22,136 vehicles per day. Ausol II averaged 21,795 vehicles per day, a 9% increase assisted by heavy vehicle traffic induced by construction work at Algeciras port. Traffic on the R-4 increased by 30.2% to 11,816 vehicles, favoured by induced traffic following inauguration of the Madrid-Levante toll road, of which it is a continuation. In June, R-4 increased tolls by another 5% once a seven-kilometre segment of the M-50 beltway had been inaugurated.
- Ireland - Traffic on the N4/N6 rose by 17.1% to 24,382 vehicles/day.
The main events in the period were as follows:
- Signature (1 June) of the Central Greece Motorway (E65) contract to build and operate a 231-kilometre road for 30 years, representing an investment of 1.5 billion euro. It is Cintra's second project in Greece.
- Signature of the concession contract for construction and operation of the 50 kilometre-long M-3 toll road in Ireland, for 45 years (7 March).
- Signature of the concession contract for construction and operation of segments 5 and 6 of Texas State Highway 130 (26 March).
- Designation as "Best Value Proposer" (28 February) and decision by the Texas Transportation Commission (23 August) to cancel the award to the consortium headed by Cintra of the contract to build and operate the SH-121 in Texas.
- On 9 July, the Italian Council of State, which is that country's supreme judicial authority, issued a decision annulling the provisional award of the contract to design, build, finance and operate a toll road between Cremona and Mantua.
Subsequent events
- On 2 October, 407 ETR announced an issue of senior debt (rated A by S&P and DBRS) amounting to 625 million Canadian dollars, maturing in 2010 and paying a 4.90% coupon. The issue was 2.1 times oversubscribed.
Car parks: 6,369 new spaces, a 2.5% increase
Cintra's car park business reported 105.5 million euro in revenues in the first nine months of 2007, an 8.1% increase on the same period of 2006. This division increased EBITDA by 6.4% to 37.2 million euro, and EBIT reached 24.8 million euro (13.1% more than in 2006).
Growth by the main line items was enhanced by the addition of 6,369 parking spaces (+2.5%): 5,598 on-street (+8.4%) and 740 off-street (+0.5%). Cintra currently manages 257,637 parking spaces, 2.5% more than one year ago.
The main new contracts in 2007 include the 50-year concession to build and operate a 1,408-space off-street car park in Pamplona's hospital district, and a one-year extension of the contract to lease and maintain pay-and-display ticket vending machines in Palma de Mallorca (1,261 parking spaces).
