Noida Toll Bridge sees traffic growing at 20% YoY

Pradeep Puri, MD, Noida Toll Bridge, said the company’s prospects are built on the very strong traffic growth rather than extraneous factors like inflation etc.

He expects traffic to grow 20% YoY, which is what they have been doing consistently for the past many quarters and also last year. "We did overall Rs 71 crore last year and if this trend continues, we should get a 20% jump on that, which would take us somewhere closer to Rs 85-90 crore," he said.

The company is fairly confident of 50% growth on the bottomline.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with Pradeep Puri:

Q: What has been the hike in toll rates? How much will it contribute in revenues going forward in the next quarter?

A: Our toll rates are fixed once a year. It was a very marginal increase, because it was done on April 1, 2008. The inflationary trend had not set in at that point in time. If at all we get any benefit from inflation, it will be probably rates for next year. So our revenues are very strong on the basis of very good traffic trends, a lot of increased investment in real estate in and around Noida, which has seen a lot of buoyancy in traffic. For example, for the month of July we have done almost 1,01,000 vehicles per day, whereas for the previous quarter we did almost 93,000 vehicles per day.

So, it has been a very hefty jump in traffic and the company’s prospects are built on the very strong traffic growth rather than extraneous factors like inflation etc.

Q: What is the expectation from traffic growth for the rest of the quarters in FY09?

A: We are looking at a 20% YoY growth, which is what we have been doing consistently for the past many quarters and also in the last year. We did overall Rs 71 crore last year and if this trend continues, we should get a 20% jump on that, which would take us somewhere closer to Rs 85-90 crore.

But a realistic forecast only comes possible six to nine months down the line, may be sometime during December. But on the current reckoning, 20% YoY seems imminently doable.

Q: How much increase has come because of that Mayur Vihar link road that opened sometime back? By what time do you expect to recover costs on that particular project?

A: Mayur Vihar Link commissioned in two phases. Phase one was done in June-July last year and phase two, which was the final phase, was done in January this year. Cumulatively, Mayur Vihar is contributing something like 15,000 vehicles per day overall and the DND flyway itself is about 1,00,000. So it has contributing almost 15% of our traffic in revenue currently.

Q: What is the kind of guidance that you are giving for FY09 at this point in time and what's the call on margins? Do you maintain them at 75% or does it improve?

A: In terms of guidance, we have traditionally not given any guidance. But our PAT, which has gone from Rs 2.67 crore to Rs 11.62 crore and last year it was at Rs 27 crore, it has been a fairly dramatic jump.

Obviously starting with a small base, we cannot consistently do a 100% growth in PAT. But we are fairly confident of 50% growth on the bottomline.