Atlas Arteria to be more ‘transparent’, explore special dividends
Atlas Arteria’s shares were trading at around $7.50 before the Chicago Skyway purchase but have subsequently plunged 27 per cent.
Traffic on the Chicago Skyway for the full year fell 7.2 per cent from a year ago due to construction on adjoining roads but Atlas Arteria said the drop was lower than the 9.6 per cent fall forecast in its business case.
Higher toll fares offset the drop in traffic, with toll revenues from the Skyway rising 2.7 per cent. Atlas Arteria took a $44.6 million equity-accounted loss on the asset in its first full year of ownership.
Atlas Arteria is trying to push through toll fare increases at its US toll road, the Dulles Greenway near Washington DC, but staff at the Virginia regulator which is reviewing the proposed increases have recommended that its application be denied.
Atlas Arteria, which plans to hire an executive to run its North American business, added “new on the ground lobbying expertise” in Virginia and was making its case to the commission and waiting for a final decision, expected in the second half of the year.
Traffic on the Dulles Greenway rose more than 6 per cent on a year earlier but is still some 26 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.
Across the broader group, traffic flows rose 3.3 per cent, and net profit of $256.3 million benefited from the weakening of the Australian dollar against the US dollar and the euro.
Atlas Arteria’s most lucrative tollroad asset, a 31 per cent stake in France’s 2318-kilometre Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhone, delivered a 3.9 per cent rise in traffic and a 7 per cent rise in revenue.
The French tollroad plans to fight for compensation after the French government imposed a new tax on big companies operating long-distance transportation infrastructure, including tollroads, to raise money to invest in more environmentally friendly projects, like railways.
The new tax will be 4.6 per cent of annual revenues above €120 million from January 2024.
The French government is also reviewing the future of toll road concessions, and could consider shorter concessions, Atlas Arteria said. Two of the main concessions linked to APRR expire in 2035 and 2036, and will be put out for tender by the French government.
Atlas Arteria will pay a total dividend of 40¢ a share for the full year, down 0.5¢ on a year earlier.