Noida Toll Bridge Company Limited----Results better then expectation;

Noida Toll Bridge Company Limited (NTBCL) declared its Q4FY09 results; which
were better than the market expectations. Led by higher traffic, NTBCL reported
strong 15.4% YoY growth in net sales to Rs 205 mn. EBIDTA growth however
was higher at 21.6% YoY to Rs 145.3 mn. The company has changed its
depreciation policy to units of usage method against straight line method leading
to write back of deprecation thereby resulting in net profit of Rs 105.7 mn as
against Rs 66.5 mn during the corresponding previous period.
Increasing traffic and revised toll rates augur well for the growth prospects of
the company going forward.

Net sales driven by higher traffic
NTBCL winessed 15.4% YoY rise in net sales to Rs 205 mn primarily led by
higher traffic which has increased to nearly 1,00,180 vehicles per day against
91,570 during the corresponding previous quarter.Mayur Vihar Link which became operation in January last year has seen
improvement in traffic to 13,632 against 12,350 vehicles per day last year.
Increased development of NOIDA along with congestion at adjoining bridges has
resulted in company reporting 17.2% CAGR in traffic during the last four years.
With more new dwelling planned in Noida, the traffic is expected to grow further.
We expect traffic to grow over 7% CAGR over the next three years.

Cost control measures resulted in better EBIDTA margins
Led by cost controls initiatives, NTBCL resulted in 21.6% YoY increase in
EBIDTA, though O & M charges have increased owing to addition of Mayur Vihar
Link, other administrative charges have seen a decline resulting in 360 bps
improvement in EBIDTA margins to 73.3%.
Higher Net profit owing to revised depreciation policy
NTBCL has changed its depreciation policy w.r.t. DND flyway to units of usage
method under which company will amortise its toll asset based on number of
vehicles using the project facility based on the traffic study done by M/s Halcrow
Consulting India Pvt. Ltd (Independent consultant).
Based on the independent professional expert’s advice, the estimated useful life
of the Bridge has been revised to 100 years against 62 years earlier. Consequent
to the change in the estimated useful life, the charge for depreciation/
amortization has been reduced by Rs 49.70 million for the year resulting in
increased profit during the current financial year. This has resulted in write back
of depreciation to the tune of Rs 22.9 mn during the quarter. Led by higher
EBIDTA and lower depreciation, net profit during the quarter witnessed 59% YoY
increase to Rs 105.7 mn against Rs 66.5 mn during last year.---- L.kannan