Increase traffic and review odds carried out at the beginning of each permitted year. connecting highway concessionaire Alicante with Torrevieja and Cartagena To regain ground lost during the epidemic and Exceeding 2019 billing levels. Moreover, it achieved this by making a profit for the second time in a row.
According to the balance sheets recorded in the Trade Registry, Ausur earned the following income: almost 14.4 million euros, 21.7% more compared to the previous year. A figure that surpasses the turnover of 13.7 million recorded in 2019, before the sharp decline in circulation due to Covid restrictions, and also represents, dealership’s third best data In its entire history, it was only behind 2007’s 15.9 million and 2006’s 14.5 million.
Those responsible for the company, which at the end of last year was 75 percent owned by Pralesa Concesiones and the other 21.16 percent by Grupo Fuertes (El Pozo), attribute these results to the following: “recovery of average traffic levels», while light vehicles were only 2% below those recorded before the pandemic, the volume of trucks had already exceeded previous figures by 4%, according to the management report accompanying the accounts.
Expropriations
To the improvement in the number of users we should add: rate increase In case of Ausur, authorization has been given by the Government for 2022. 2.99% compared to 1.97% on all motorways Dependent on the state. This difference is explained as follows: Participation loan given by the government to the company to compensate for increased expropriation costs Having to face more than expected allows him to raise rates by an additional 1% each year in order to pay back this loan.
So, for example, in 2023 the company increased its rates by 9.46%, adding 8.38% of the CPI plus this additional percentage, but for the consumer the increase was only 4%, because the rest was assumed by the State. inside Measures to combat inflation.
Beyond this, the company also implements various measures to reduce its costs. Specifically, the report includes: renewal of the wage systemthe double goal of modernizing it and, above all, the possibility of greater automation, which will allow it to control operating expenses.
Thus, the company increased by five people last year Average number of staff increased from 45 to 50– despite We reduced the number of “paid drivers” from 23 to 21, as the report calls them.
The result of all of the above is that the year of Ausur is a 2,896,000 Euro net profit, over a significant amount, representing a 20% return on income. Of course, this figure is a far cry from the 43.7 million euros recorded last year, but these were the accounting consequences due to shareholders’ decision to forgive an outstanding loan of the firm.
Rescue avoided
The construction of the Alicante-Torrevieja-Cartagena highway was awarded to the Ausur company in August 1998. 50 year maturity. It has a length of 76.6 kilometers, Opened to traffic in 2001 and has gone through many changes since then. The concessionaire was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2014, when the decline in traffic due to the crisis forced it to bail out other motorways such as the Alicante toll ring road. Ausur was saved when the bank refinanced its debt of 196 million euros. Since then the figures have been improving until they reached the current level of turnover.
Record number of vehicles last July
According to data updated monthly by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, last July the highway from Alicante to Torrevieja reached the highest traffic volume since its construction, recording an average daily density of 31,101 vehicles. This is great news for owners, considering that the road charges higher rates during the high season, which includes Easter as well as June, July, August and September.