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Pradeep Puri , MD, Noida Toll Bridge  said that the company achieved a 50% bottomline last year and the company will strive to achieve this kind of profit growth every year.

 

The revenue growth for the company comes from the traffic that passes through the toll plaza, he said. The company witnessed 1,15,000 vehicles this September, Puri added.

 

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

 

Q: You were confident of about 50% growth on the bottomline from the current levels. Do you still maintain those particular levels is there any reason to change that?

 

A: We have seen a good revenue growth because of traffic and the recent few months have been impressive. Moreover, three years back our annual average daily traffic was about 60,000 vehicles which went up to 63,000 vehicles in 2006-07and last year it was roughly 91,000 vehicles. This year in month of September we are averaging around 1,15,000 vehicles. Traditionally, we have been in about 20% year-on-year growth in topline and the profitability is much higher than that. We got a PAT of Rs 27 crore last year as against roughly Rs 11 crore a year before that, which is a 50% growth and that is something which the management is committed to achieving.

 

Q: What about development rights of the land along the Highway, any progress on those?

 

A: There has been a lot of speculation about that. We can only make a public announcement as and when things reach some level of finality. But we are in talks with the relevant government authorities and we are confident that this matter will be resolved in the foreseeable future soon.

 

It's a complex issue because this toll road was built where the company got the concession to run it. But some of the provisions of the concession agreement virtually make it a perpetual concession. So we have asked the government to allow some other streams of income from activities in and around the toll plaza that could help to bring this concession to a termination in a reasonable timeframe which has upsides for all the investors, stakeholders and even the government eventually.

 

Q: What's the value of this land bank because reports suggest that it is about Rs 1,500 crore and if that's the case then the marketcap would be Rs 500 crore for this company. It could also be a significant trigger for the stock, so what would be the value of this land bank?

 

A: I don't want to speculate on market gossip because there are so many issues which enter there. Also, what we are trying to do is seeking the approvals from the government authorities which is only for a specific chunk of land and something we can do with that. However, I am unaware of the value of that because ultimately it will depend on nature of approvals, which are given and the kind of conditions put on that. So I don't want to speculate on these figures because there is a very vast chunk of land available with us where I don't think its practical to look at developing all of that on raveling some commercial value in a very quick timeframe.