NLEX Corp. said Thursday net income rose 62 percent in the first six months, as vehicle traffic along its two expressways gradually recovered since the imposition of strict quarantine in March 2020.
The operator of North Luzon Expressway and Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway said net profit amounted to P2.7 billion from January to June, up from P1.64 billion in the same period last year.
The company said revenues increased 34 percent in the first half to P6.7 billion, as traffic figures continued to trend upward since April 2020, supported by the higher toll implemented in November 2020 and May 2021.
It said that as of June 30, average daily traffic along NLEX reached 246,843 daily vehicle entries, while average daily traffic along SCTEX reached 54,334 daily vehicle entries. In the first six months of the year, traffic figures for NLEX and SCTEX exceeded 2020 figures by 40 percent and 29 percent, respectively.
“In addition to higher traffic volume, NLEX toll revenues increased due to the implementation of toll rate adjustment in May 2021 related to the third tranche of NLEX 2012 and 2014 petitions,” NLEX said.
The company implemented the add-on toll in November 2020 for Segment 10: C3-R10 Section and the second tranche of NLEX 2012 and 2014 petitions.
It completed the upgrading of RFID facilities at the toll lane level throughout the entire NLEX and SCTEX network aimed at boosting detection capability and improving the overall customer experience.
NLEX said the number of NLEX-SCTEX toll lanes with advanced reading feature increased to 188 as 132 antennas were realigned last year and additional 56 this year.
The RFID upgrading project involved a thorough engineering review that identified the best possible positioning of the antennas and sensors to quickly detect the RFID stickers installed in customers’ vehicles.
Compared to the previous setup, the enhanced RFID scanners can detect up to three vehicles in advance, quickly identify, record and process the toll lane transactions.