MPTC profit slips by 4% to P725M
MANILA, Philippines—The country’s biggest toll road operator expects profit for the full-year to stay at healthy levels following the addition of the new Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) to the company’s portfolio of highways.
In a statement, Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) said earnings slipped 4 percent in the first half of the year to P725 million due to lower-than-expected traffic growth and higher tax payments during the period.
The Metro Pacific Investments Corp. unit said this followed the end of the company’s six-year corporate income tax holiday.
The company also claimed it was hit by rising fuel prices, which led to more people using public transport instead of bringing their cars.
Officials said they remained optimistic that the company’s financial performance would improve in the next several months.
“Though traffic demand could be lower given sharp increases in fuel prices and the expiration of MNTC’s (Manila North Tollways Corp.) income tax holiday, MPTC still expects a strong financial performance this year with the increase in toll rates and modest traffic volume growth,” MPTC president Ramoncito Fernandez said in a statement.
MPTC also operates the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx).
Fernandez said profits would have fallen by much more if the company had not implemented an 11-percent hike in toll rates at the start of the year.
Toll rates at SCTEx are also scheduled for adjustment by the start of 2012.
