The tollway unit of San Miguel Corp. said Wednesday it posted a 27-percent increase in first-half net income on higher toll revenues and lower expenses.
SMC SLEX Inc., formerly South Luzon Tollways Corp., logged a net income of P2.01 billion from January to June, up from P1.58 billion in the same period last year.
Revenue from toll operations amounted to P3.41 billion, up 10 percent from P3.12 billion in the same period last year.
SLEX said it achieved an average daily traffic of 351,024, lower by 5 percent than 368,683 ADT a year earlier, reflecting the impact of the Seamless Project which removed the TR3 toll plaza which had an open system with a separate traffic count.
“The reduction in traffic count under the Seamless Project has no impact on the toll revenue,” SLEC-SLEX said.
The company’s cost of service went down by 3 percent to P877.72 million on lower repair and maintenance.
SMC SLEX allocated P7.4 billion for capital expenditures this year to partially finance the construction of an expressway from Batangas to Lucena and repair and maintenance of the South Luzon Expressway.
The company said the P6.77 billion budget would be used to finance the TR4 Project and SLEX widening project.
SMC SLEX in March 2019 started the construction of the 66.74-kilometer SLEX Toll Road 4 that would connect Sto. Tomas, Batangas to Lucena City, Quezon.
The toll road will shorten the travel time from Sto. Tomas to Barangay Mayao in Lucena City from the usual three hours to just 45 minutes.
The P26.1-billion project is expected to be completed by 2026.
