Join today and you can easily save your favourite articles, join in the conversation and comment, plus select which news your want direct to your inbox.
Join today and you can easily save your favourite articles, join in the conversation and comment, plus select which news your want direct to your inbox.
Motorists tipped a bumper $2.1 billion into the coffers of toll road operator Transurban last financial year, boosting its profit by $187 million, the company has revealed.
Transurban's annual report, released on Tuesday, shows revenue from its network of roads grew by 10 per cent, or $207 million, in the 2016-17 financial year.
From the 'humble' beginnings Jeff Kennett's Citylink in Melbourne to an engineering behemoth. Royce Millar and Ben Schneiders report on the company swallowing up Australia's roads.
In an outgoing interview with ABC's Media Watch, Mark Scott talks about the kind of journalism he believes the ABC does, and how bias is perceived by other press.
Up Next
Mother, daughter killed in horrific Cranbourne East crash
Mother, daughter killed in horrific Cranbourne East crash
A mother and her teenager daughter are killed after a driver smashed into their car as they left a school in Melbourne's south-east. Vision courtesy Seven News Melbourne.
Two Australian Border Force officers are arrested as part of the wave of organised crime arrests that swept Sydney and Dubai this week. Vision courtesy Seven News Melbourne.
Up Next
Police dance with swingers just hours before shooting
Police dance with swingers just hours before shooting
Two policemen danced with several women at the Inflation nightclub Saints and Swingers Ball just hours before members of the Critical Incident Response Team shot two patrons last month.
Australian scientists at the Victor Chang Institute have discovered miscarriages and birth defects can be prevented by simply taking a Vitamin B3 supplement.
From the 'humble' beginnings Jeff Kennett's Citylink in Melbourne to an engineering behemoth. Royce Millar and Ben Schneiders report on the company swallowing up Australia's roads.
Net profit surged from $22 million to $209 million - a jump of 850 per cent but lower than the market expected.
The consensus analyst forecast compiled by Bloomberg was for net profit of $246 million. Transurban's shares had fallen 2.6 per cent to $11.63 by 2pm.
After significant items, net profit jumped 34 per cent to $239 million, Transurban said.
Toll revenue grew 9.2 per cent to $872 million in Sydney, where Transurban operates the Lane Cove Tunnel, the M2 Motorway, the Cross City Tunnel and the M1 distributor.
Advertisement
Traffic on those roads, measured by average daily trips, grew 3.4 per cent in the most recent financial year.
In Melbourne, where it runs CityLink, Transurban took 4.1 per cent more from tolls compared to the 2016 financial year, earning $687 million even as traffic fell 1 per cent due to road works on the Tullamarine Freeway.
Traffic on the company's Brisbane roads, which include the Logan and Gateway motorways, jumped 15 per cent, pushing toll revenue in that city up 22.9 per cent to $385 million.
Tolls in the United States, which make up about 10 per cent of Transurban's earnings, reaped an extra 23.7 per cent.
Transurban said it expected to enter an equity partnership to fund its bid for the project. It would fund $9 billion of existing projects it had committed to from its balance sheet, it said.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, and before costs associated with buying the AirportlinkM7 in Brisbane, grew 10 per cent to $1.6 billion.
Transurban chief executive Scott Charlton said the company was working to improve efficiency of its networks, with road projects under way in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the US.
The company said it would pay shareholders a dividend of 51.5¢ a share and gave guidance of 56¢ for 2018.