SMC SLEX Inc., formerly South Luzon Tollways Corp., said Monday net income rose 4 percent in the first quarter from a year ago on higher vehicle traffic volume this year.
The tollway unit of San Miguel Corp. said net income amounted to P706.6 million from January to March, higher than P679.1 million it booked in the same period last year.
Total revenue went up 8 percent in the first quarter to P1.48 billion from P1.37 billion a year ago.
“SLEX traffic volume have shown a recovery in the first quarter after travel restrictions were eased from a strict alert level 3 in January to level 2 in February and level 1 in beginning the month of March in National Capital Region and Southern Luzon,” SMC SLEX said.
Traffic volume increased 4 percent to 351,773 vehicles daily from 337,601 vehicles a year earlier. It was only 4 percent below the pre-pandemic level of 367,220 vehicles in 2019.
SMC SLEX said majority of vehicles that used SLEX belong to the Class 1 category, which accounted for 84 percent of total traffic volume, which indicated high socioeconomic activity in the south.
Traffic volume for Class 2 and 3 categories achieved 7-percent growth, resulting from the resurgence of strong commercial activities particularly in Batangas province.
Cost and expenses rose 4 percent to P538.7 million from P516.6 million on the back of higher management service fees and repair and maintenance of the toll collection system.
The company earlier said it would spend P9.49 billion this year to partly finance the construction of a toll road from Batangas to Quezon and repair South Luzon Expressway.
