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Letter from the chairman
- In Two minutes
- Value Creation
- Ferrovial in 2023
- Corporate Governance
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Appendix
- Alternative Performance Measures
- Sustainability management
- Reporting principles
- EU Taxonomy
- Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
- ESG scoreboard
- Non-financial information and diversity reference table (Dutch Law)
- Contents of non-financial information statement (Spanish Law)
- SASB indicators
- GRI standards Indicators
- Appendix to GRI indicators
- Glosary of terms
- Board of Directors
- Assurance Report of the independent auditor
- Other information
- INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
- AUDIT REPORT
Value Creation
Toll Roads
A SOLID BUSINESS MODEL
Ferrovial’s Toll Roads business unit develops projects that improve the quality of life of users by reducing the urban congestion and contributing to the socioeconomic development of the regions where it operates.
Cintra, Ferrovial’s Toll Roads business unit, focuses its activity in developed financial markets with high demand for infrastructures. These markets include North America, Europe and Australia, where the company finds secure regulatory frameworks and future growth prospects. In addition, the company seeks investment opportunities in specific geographies where its business model can generate unique competitive advantages and shareholder value. In this way, Cintra focuses on offering sustainable projects to solve traffic congestion problems in urban areas, as well as complex greenfield concessions. It enables users to save time, improve the certainty of their daily commute and increase the economic productivity, which in turn generates new growth opportunities in the regions where it operates.
With over 50 years of experience, its comprehensive management model and its in-depth knowledge of new technologies applied to pricing (advanced analytics), which allow for improved demand forecasting and fare optimization, as well as the synergy with Ferrovial Construction, make Cintra a company with high potential for value creation and strong competitive advantages. The complete management of the life cycle of projects, together with a diversified and global portfolio, allows Cintra to understand the needs of all parties involved (users, administrations, economic agents), which results in the ability to provide innovative, sustainable and high value-added solutions.
During 2023, despite the complex environment in which the business has performed, Cintra’s main assets have distributed dividends amounting to 704 million euros (388 million euros in 2022), including the distribution of the first dividend in June of the NTE35W of 435 million dollars (of which 233 million dollars corresponded to Ferrovial). These figures reflect the financial strength of Ferrovial’s business model.
Traffic in 2023 has increased in all assets above 2022 levels, when traffic was affected by the omicron variant of COVID-19, which impacted mobility early that year, especially in Canada. Since then, traffic has experienced a solid recovery in all assets, reaching figures well above 2022 and in some cases volumes above those recorded before the outbreak of the pandemic.
In June, segment 3C north of the NTE 35W in Texas (USA) was opened to traffic before schedule. This 6.7-mile section (10.7- kilometer) involved an investment of more than 1 billion euros by Ferrovial.
Also in 2023, financing was completed for the North Tarrant Express (NTE) in Texas, in an operation valued at more than 400 million US dollars, with the aim to complete its expansion as part of the Comprehensive Development Agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation. This new investment, which is being developed at no cost to Texas taxpayers, is a further example of Ferrovial’s commitment to the US market.
NORTH AMERICA
KILOMETERS
INVESTMENT MANAGED* (M€)
CONCESSIONS
DIVIDENDS (M€)
- (*) Information regarding investment under management and number of concessions of IRB (India) assets is not included.
ASSETS
Cintra owns 43.23% of the 407 ETR toll road in Toronto (Canada); 62.97%, 54.60% and 53.67% of the Express Lanes NTE, LBJ and NTE 35W in Texas (USA), respectively. Likewise, in North Carolina (USA), Cintra has 72.24% of the I-77 and 55.704% of the I-66 in Virginia (USA).
In the Express Lanes, the rates are dynamic and can be modified every few minutes depending on the level of congestion, always guaranteeing a minimum speed for drivers. With free-flow (barrier-free) toll systems, they stand out for the long duration of their concession, their broad tariff flexibility and an optimized long-term financial structure, positions Cintra as a leader in the private development of highly complex road transport infrastructures.
The company holds stakes and investments in other assets or corporations in Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Slovakia, Colombia, Australia and India.
VALUE CREATION
Highly complex greenfield projects
Cintra specializes in complex greenfield projects due to their high value creation potential. Its ability to evaluate and assume a higher level of risk associated with the project in the bidding phase (construction, financing, operation and traffic management) allows it to opt for higher rates of return (IRR). Value creation is achieved by decreasing the discount rate of future cash flows as project risks are eliminated in the construction phase or reduced (traffic/financing) as the concession term progresses. An example of the elimination of construction risks is the opening of Segment 3C of the NTE 35W in Dallas in June 2023.
DALLAS
Rotation of mature assets
Value creation is materialized with the sale of mature projects, whose revenues are invested in new assets with higher value creation potential. An example of this strategy is the agreement reached in June for the divestment of the Euroscut Azores toll road with Horizon Equity Partners and River Rock for 43.3 million euros.
407 ETR (CANADA) DIVIDENDS MCAD
NTE (USA) DIVIDENDS M$
LBJ (USA) DIVIDENDS M$*
NTE 35W (USA) DIVIDENDS M$*
*Both the LBJ ( 2021) and NTE 35W (2023) distributed an extraordinary dividend.
Opening of NTE35W section 3C
Ferrovial announced in June the completion of the third segment of the NTE 35W project in Fort Worth, Texas, which opened three months ahead of schedule. With an investment of more than 1 billion euros, this 6.7-mile section (10.7 kilometer) of the I-35W, which connects North Tarrant Parkway to Eagle Parkway in Fort Worth, has incorporated improvements with the reconstruction of the main lanes, the widening of the service lanes and the addition of TEXpress toll lanes.
Through this public-private partnership, the NTE 35W Section 3C project has not entailed any outlay for the State of Texas. At present, Ferrovial’s total investment in Texas toll roads under this formula amounts to more than 7 billion dollars, which has been allocated to the LBJ, NTE and NTE35W toll roads.
AIVIA Smart Roads
In July 2023, Cintra’s US innovation team successfully presented its AIVIA Smart Roads initiative on a section of the I-66 in Northern Virginia to the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITSA).
The AIVIA platform is characterized by its own logic that integrates data from multiple sensors, as well as filtering false positives and providing accurate information to both Traffic Management Centers and drivers.
AIVIA’s main objective is the development of an infrastructure and technology that ensures that conventional and autonomous vehicles can coexist in harmony, as well as to obtain the maximum advantages of all types of automated and autonomous vehicles, improving the safety and travel experience of users.
Operational efficiency committed to the environment
All of Cintra’s assets carry out actions to optimize their operations. Cintra’s environmental strategy to reduce its carbon footprint began more than a decade ago, continuously reinforcing environmental practices and protecting the habitat of local species with ongoing monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions, waste, air and water quality and the acoustic impact produced by traffic.
Users: excellence in service
Cintra maintains its focus on customer satisfaction and its value proposition of reliability, time savings, safety and sustainability. The effectiveness of this strategy is proven by the response from customers, with increasing traffic levels in mostly all assets.
Employees: merit support
Cintra offers opportunities for the professional development of all employees by promoting internal mobility and ensuring that merit is the determining factor in their career. During 2023, 15% of employees have had the opportunity to change position or location, and one in four people work in an international assignment.
Assets that create value
Ferrovial, in collaboration with Steer, has presented the conclusions of the study “Economic and Community Impact of Ferrovial Toll Roads”, which analyzes the socioeconomic impact of the toll roads managed by its subsidiary Cintra. The analysis includes the 34 assets in which the company has a stake in the United States, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Slovakia, Colombia and India, revealing the impact of these toll roads on regional economies from the start of each concession until December 31, 2022.
The report concludes that these assets improve mobility, reduce traffic and contribute to the sustainable development of the regions where they are located. Overall, Ferrovial’s assets have contributed more than 64.3 billion dollars to local economies and have created more than 344,000 jobs. Regionally, the economic impact of toll roads in North America amounted to 42.7 billion dollars, while their construction, maintenance and management generated 228,100 full-time jobs.
These figures reflect that Ferrovial’s activity has a significant impact on the communities in which it operates, creating lasting value and serving as an economic engine for economic growth.
For more information, please see: https://newsroom.ferrovial.com/en/press_releases/ferrovial-tollroads-contribution-gdp/
EXPECTED BUSINESS PERFORMANCE IN 2024
For 2023, it was expected traffic on all assets to be at levels above 2022, as well as the toll revenue associated with the most important assets in the portfolio. These expectations have been met and both traffic and toll revenues have exceeded the levels of 2022. It was also expected to be above pre-Covid data for some US assets, and meeting these expectations, traffic has been above 2019 levels for all US assets except LBJ, mainly due to construction works underway in the area.
In 2024, the traffic of the company’s assets is expected to continue the recovery path of 2023 and increase in all of them, nevertheless, traffic in NTE is expected to be impacted by the ongoing construction works to increase project capacity.
In terms of dividends, it is expected to continue the distribution of dividends and to start distributing the first dividend in NTE35W once the 3C opened to traffic. 3C segment was opened ahead on schedule in June, and a dividend of €435 million was distributed by the project. Dividends received by the group in 2023 were €704 million, compared to €388 million in the previous year.
In 2024, it is expected that the main infrastructure assets will continue to distribute dividends consistently according to their operating performance. Cintra will focus its efforts on maximizing the quality of the service provided, optimizing its revenues and costs, within the framework allowed by the concession contracts.
During 2023 the division finalized the equity investments in the I-66 toll road project and NTE 35W segment 3C. It is not currently expected further investment commitments in these projects during 2024. However, throughout the year, new potential opportunities such as Anillo Vial Periférico in Peru, SR400 Managed Lanes in Atlanta, Georgia and India will be analyzed.
On 2023 Cintra executed the financing transactions for NTE 35W’s 5-year bonds to be used for the 2023 and 2024 principal pre-payments of the TIFIA loan and the refinancing of the 2013 PABs. As for 2024, potential opportunities to maximize the financial structure of projects will continue to be analyzed.
The expected evolution by geography is as follows:
- In Canada, the 407 ETR toll road will continue to focus on optimization and cost control measures without ceasing the development of its user value generation strategy. The toll road will maintain its investment in the data analytics department to improve its understanding of user behavior and personalize its value propositions, as well as to enhance its customer management systems, which will enable it to offer individualized attention through personalized offers.
- In the United States, all toll roads have shown solid traffic growth as well as growth in average revenue per transaction. The current inflationary context will imply an increase in the revenues of the Dallas Express Lanes, where the soft cap will increase in 2024 compared to the previous year. In this regard, the opening of segment 3C of the NTE35W will significantly increase revenues in the US market. During 2024, and thanks to the success of the North Tarrant Express project, toll road expansion work will be carried out earlier than initially planned in the development agreement that the company has with the Texas Department of Transportation. It is expected to be completed in 2027.
- In Australia, Cintra will continue to manage the Toowoomba toll road and the Western Roads Upgrade project, which was fully opened to traffic in November 2021.
- In India, where IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd. manages 24 toll road projects with a total length of more than 15,000 kilometers, it is expected to reach significant milestones within its pipeline of projects under development during 2024.
- In the remaining markets, Cintra will continue to operate the assets already in operation, including the D4R7 toll road in Slovakia, which opened to traffic completely in October 2021. It will also open to traffic several sections of the Ruta del Cacao, in Colombia, and will continue with the construction of Silvertown, in the United Kingdom.
The company will continue its bidding activity in its target regions (North America, Europe, Australia, Colombia, Chile and Peru), focusing on complex greenfield projects, due to their high potential for value creation, such as the SR400 Express Lanes in Atlanta (Georgia), for which the company has been prequalified, as well as in India through IRB.
