Toll road operator NLEX Corp. said net income grew by over a fifth in the first semester on higher vehicle traffic at the North Luzon Expressway and Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.
The company said net profit from January to June reached P2.9 billion, up 22 percent from P2.3 billion in the same period last year.
NLEX attributed the growth in revenues in the six-month period to higher toll collection at NLEx and SCTEx and more efficient utilization of resources covering toll operations and maintenance costs.
Toll revenues reached P6.7 billion, up 15 percent year-on-year on the steady increase in traffic and toll revenue contribution from both NLEx and SCTEx operations and increase in non-toll revenues.
Non-toll revenues also climbed to P100 million from P83 million with the increase in royalty fees, utility facility fees and other non-toll initiatives.
Subsidiary NLEX Ventures Corp. contributed P14.8 million, mainly from the commercialization of roadway maintenance services.
NLEX spans 95 kilometers, or 527 lane-kms, and services an average of 254,791 vehicles a day.
NLEX Corp. said net income in 2017 rose 14 percent to P4.64 billion from P4.09 billion in 2016 on robust vehicle traffic growth in the two toll roads. Toll revenues reached P11.6 billion last year, up 10 percent from 10.5 billion in 2016.
NLEx vehicle traffic reached an average of 237,046 daily entries last year, or 8 percent higher than in 2016, while traffic at SCTEx reached 54,566 daily vehicle entries, up 21 percent.
NLEx contributed 84 percent of toll revenues, while SCTEx cornered 16 percent.
The company said aside from toll revenues, the company generated revenues of P174.4 million arising from advertising, toll services and utility facilities and rental and service income in 2017 from P157.4 million in 2016.
The North Luzon Expressway spans approximately 95 kilometers, or 527-lane kilometers, and serves an average of 237,046 a day. It is the main infrastructure backbone that connects Metro Manila to Central and Northern Luzon.
SCTEx, meanwhile, is a 94-km, 2×2 expressway stretching from Subic-Tipo to La Paz, Tarlac, connecting the special economic zones in Subic and Clark and Olongapo City, to Tarlac City.
The toll road company earlier budgeted P19 billion in capital expenditures this year to build new projects and help resolve Metro Manila’s traffic bottlenecks.
It is spending to build the urban portions of North Luzon Expressway, such as the Harbor Link Segment 10 (including the R10 Section in Dagat-Dagatan, Navotas City) and the NLEx-SLEx Connector Road project.
