SMC SLEX Inc. said Thursday net income rose 11 percent in the first quarter from a year ago on higher vehicle traffic volume.
The tollway unit of San Miguel Corp. said net profit amounted to P679.1 million from January to March, up from P614.1 million it earned in the same period last year.
Revenue amounted to P1.37 billion in the first quarter, or 5 percent higher than last year’s P1.31 billion, reflecting the improvement in traffic volume this year compared to the previous year.
“SLEX traffic volume in the first quarter has shown gradual recovery since the start of the year, which has already started to catch up to pre-COVID-19 growth levels,” SMC SLEX said.Govt
It said the effect of the ECQ restrictions in the first quarter was only for three days, compared to 15 days in the same period in 2020.
The company said, however, the recent spike of COVID-19 positive daily cases in the NCR, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and Bulacan from March 29 to May 14 was expected to have a significant impact on the SLEX traffic volume for the second quarter.
The company said operating expenses went up by 17 percent in the first quarter to P53.4 million from P45.8 million last year on higher advertising to improve public awareness of the major RFID rollout for the mandatory cashless toll payments project of the Department of Transportation.
SMC SLEX earlier said it allocated P5.44 billion for 2021 capital budget including P4.6 billion for Toll Road 4 Project. TR4 is a four-lane road from Sto. Tomas, Batangas to Lucena City, Quezon.
The P26.1-billion project is expected to shorten the travel time from Sto. Tomas to Barangay Mayao in Lucena from three hours to 45 minutes. The project is expected to be completed by 2024.
TR4 is a part of SLTC’s 30-year concession which will last until 2036.
