Sydney and Melbourne traffic drives Transurban H1 profit up 7pc - The Australian

TRANSURBAN has booked a 7 per cent rise in first-half earnings as steady population growth in Sydney and Melbourne and low unemployment levels boosted traffic on the company's local tollroads.

The group, which owns or has stakes in six Australian and two US tollroads, said its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) for the six months to December 31 increased to $416.9 million from $390 million a year earlier. That was broadly in line with $412 million average of five analysts' forecasts compiled by Dow Jones Newswires.

Transurban's first-half net profit of $80.9 million was lower than $93.2 million a year before. Analysts say ebitda is a more relevant measure of financial performance for tollroad operators, as large acquisition or development costs attract high rates of depreciation in early years, while toll revenues ramp up over concessions that often run for several decades.

Transurban’s traffic figures have been well flagged, with new chief executive Scott Charlton revealing last month that the Australian toll roads performed creditably in the December quarter.

Average daily traffic along Melbourne's CityLink up 2.8 per cent, and up 3.1 per cent on Sydney's Westlink M7 traffic.

However, a new toll road in the US - the 495 Express Lanes around Washington DC - reported lower-than-expected traffic numbers.