Yuexiu Transport Infrastructure Limited today announces the interim results of the Company and its subsidiaries for the six months ended 30 June 2015.
During the reporting period, the overall operating revenue of the Company hit another record high, with a year-on-year growth of 6.2% to RMB932 million. Profit attributable to shareholders amounted to RMB321 million, up by 10.5% year on year. In particular, GNSR Expressway achieved a significant double-digit percentage growth in net profit contribution. Changzhu Expressway posted a year-on-year growth of nearly 17% in toll revenue despite the ongoing renovation work. The growth in toll revenue was a high double-digit percentage growth and helped to narrow the lossby 48.5%.
The Board resolved to declare an interim dividend of HK$0.12 per share for the first half of 2015, equivalent to RMB0.0956832per share (1H 2014: HK$0.11 per share, equivalent to RMB0.087350 per share). This also represents an interim dividend payout ratio of 49.9%, reflecting the Company’s stable and consistent dividend policy.
Although the international economic environment was still full of uncertainties, the domestic transport industry continued to develop steadily. In the first half of 2015, the highway passenger transportation turnover and freight turnover increased by 3.1% and 6.4% year on year, respectively. The investment in fixed transport assets remained significant, with RMB646.9 billion already invested in highway construction, which represented a year-on-year increase of 10.2%. This also reflects the important role that investment in transport has been playing in stabilizing growth.
In the future, the Company’s existing asset portfolio will maintain steady growth. Well-developed projects of the Company within the Guangdong province, including GNSR Expressway, Humen Bridge and Northern Ring Road will still be the main source of stable profit. Projects acquired in central China in recent years will gradually mature over time and their contributions to the Company’s profit will gradually increase. In addition, the relevant approval procedures for Suiyuenan Expressway, acquired in December 2014, were completed in July 2015 and the expressway has been officially taken over by the Company. It is expected that Suiyuenan Expressway will bring new growth driver for the Company after consolidation.
During the reporting period, the Company successfully issued guaranteed notes in an aggregate principal amount of €200 million for a term of three years with a coupon rate of 1.625% overseas, which expanded the sources of financing. The Company has a relatively strong capability of raising fund because of strong cash flow generated from the expressways and its high credit ratings. In the future, the Company will still continue to leverage its advantage of cross-border financing platform to tap diverse financing channels and reduce consolidated financing costs on the basis of sound exchange risk control.
Upon completion of the acquisition of Suiyuenan Expressway, the Company will focus on exploiting the potential of existing assets through measures such as controlling costs by strengthening operation management and lowering financial expenses by reducing liabilities in order to improve operational efficiency. On the other hand, the Company will fully review and evaluate its existing asset portfolio and will consider disposing of those assets which have been operating with low efficiency or have shown no improvement for a long time. Through optimizing the asset portfolio and improving the overall efficiency, the Company will continuously create reasonable returns to the shareholders.