The “Rise of the Central Region” Strategies Supports Steady Business Growth
----Yuexiu Transport Infrastructure Announces 2018 Annual Results
Financial Highlights:
For the year ended 31 December (RMB ’000) | 2018 | 2017 | Change |
Revenue | 2,847,073 | 2,702,844 | 5.3% |
Profit attributable to shareholders | 1,054,135 | 947,942 | 11.2% |
Basic earnings per share (RMB) | 0.6300 | 0.5666 | 11.2% |
Annual dividend per share (HKD) | 0.39 | 0.36 | 8.3% |
Annual dividend payout ratio | 53.6% | 52.4% | 1.2pps |
Yuexiu Transport Infrastructure Limited (“Yuexiu Transport Infrastructure” or “The company”) today announced its 2018 annual results on 18 February. For the year ended 31 December 2018 (the “Reporting Year”), the Company recorded revenue of RMB2.85 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 5.3%. Profit attributable to shareholders amounted to RMB 1.05 billion. Basic earnings per share increased by 11.2% year-on-year to RMB0.6300. The toll income of Weixu Expressway and Suiyuenan Expressway maintained high double-digit annual growth for the year. The revenue of these two expressways increased by 30.2% and 16.5% year-on-year respectively while net profits surged by 47.0% and 22.4% respectively. The Board proposed a final dividend of HKD0.24 per share for 2018. Together with the paid interim dividend of HKD0.15 per share, the total dividends for the Reporting Year amounted to HKD0.39 per share, representing an increase of 8.3% year-on-year. The Company endeavors to create sustainable and stable returns for shareholders through its business development.
The Company has actively seized the development opportunities brought about by the national strategy of “Rise of Central China” in recent years, and implemented aggressive expansion into Central China provinces with large population, such as Hubei, Hunan and Henan. We acquired a number of quality highway projects to diversify our investment to different regions so as to disperse business risks and seize more development opportunities, and this strategy has gradually paid off. As the projects become more mature in the recent years, the share of profits contribution from the Central China projects gradually went up to nearly 40%, and they have become a new growth engine for the Company business development.
Driven by favorable factors such as the sustained increase in car ownership, the flourishing e-commerce and express delivery services, as well as the rapid development of local tourism, the Company believes that the highway transportation sector has the momentum for continuous growth, and anticipates a sustained long-term growth of its toll expressways and bridges in future. The ‘Rise of the Central Region’ and the ‘Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area’ will be the two major regional strategies that are favorable for the Company in its business expansion. By grasping the investment opportunities in these two regions, the Company will focus on the development of expressway and bridge business, especially through mergers and acquisitions of quality projects, to enhance asset scale and profitability, and create long-term stable and reasonable returns for its shareholders.