Billion-euro road made operator €275k of profit a week last year

AN increase of 5pc in daily traffic volumes on one of Irelands’s most controversial road schemes resulted in its operators generating over €275,800 per week in operating profits last year.

New figures show that the M3 Motorway recorded €14.34m in operating profits for its private operator, Eurolink Motorway Operations (M3) Ltd last year.

Revenues at the firm last year increased by 9.5pc to €22.3m as average daily traffic volumes increased by 5pc. The 51-kilometre M3 from Clonee to north of Kells was built at a cost of almost €1bn.

Pre-tax profits at the company increased by 16pc to €7.39m from €6.38m.

The company recorded the pre-tax profits after paying out €6.9m in finance costs.

The M3 scheme was the largest infrastructure scheme delivered through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) at the time. The controversial motorway was the subject of a series of protests as it runs near the ancient Hill of Tara, bypassing the towns of Dunshaughlin, Navan and Kells.

The firm’s revenues are made up of road tolls and operational payments from the National Roads Authority (NRA). Revenues from the company’s financial asset last year totalled €13.9m and operating cost income amounted to €8.3m.

The payments from the NRA include traffic guarantee payments that are paid if sufficient volumes of motorists don’t use the tolled route.

The guarantee was put in place due to the high cost of the route and due to it being a challenging project to deliver. The company had bank loans totalling €93.3m at the end of last year.

The firm recorded post-tax profits of €6.46m after paying out corporation tax of €929,000.

There are two toll plazas – one at Pace, between Dunshaughlin and Clonee, and the other at Grange, between Navan and Kells. The workforce employed by the operator of the route last year decreased by just one to 23 though staff costs decreased to €1.38m.

The directors of the firm said they have an expectation of an improvement in traffic volumes in the medium to long term. The company’s cost of sales last year totalled €5.8m with administrative expenses amounting to €2.1m

The most recent annual report of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) show that operation charges concerning the M3 totalled €18.45m in 2018. The TII’s operation charges for its Public Private Partnership schemes totalled €85.2m in 2018.

The highest PPP payout related to the Gort Tuam motorway where €24.3m was paid out in operation charges.