Toll roads company unveils €200m spending plan
National Toll Roads (NTR) is set to spend more than €200 this year developing wind farms and other infrastructure projects, it said today.
The bulk of the investment will be in roads, waste management, energy and telecommunications, with a large proportion spent developing onshore wind energy in the UK.
The announcement at the company’s AGM today follows an increase in turnover for 2004 of 29.7%, to €273m, and pre-tax profits of €18.2m, a rise of 8%.
In 2004, the company invested around €200m in a number of infrastructure projects, including developing Irish broadband services.
It brought the total capital investments by the company to €360m over the past three years.
More than 90% of its capital investment last year was in its waste management and recycling businesses and renewable energy, the company said.
Mr Tom Roche, Chairman of NTR, said: “As reported in the Annual Report for 2004, NTR’s focused diversification strategy has delivered significant growth in shareholder value in recent years.
“This has been achieved on foot of a sustained programme of capital investment in infrastructure assets, primarily in the renewable energy and waste management sectors.
“This investment also helps to address the ‘infrastructure deficit’ in the key areas of roads, waste and renewable energy in Ireland,” Mr Roche said.
He said he expected the pace of investment to continue throughout 2005, with a plan to put more than €200m into a number of projects.
NTR operates in roads, renewable energy, waste management, water and waste water treatment and telecommunications.
