The Cedinsa motorways earned 20% less in the year before losing the Transversal Axis

2023-10-03 18:39:24

BarcelonaCedinsa, the main concessionaire of toll roads in the shadow of Catalonia, closed 2022 with a net profit of 22.67 million euros, practically 20% less than the previous year, when it earned 28, 28 million, according to the consolidated accounts submitted to the Mercantile Registry. These results are the last of the concessionaire before losing the operation of the C-25, the Eix Transversal, which the Generalitat decided to recover by taking advantage of a window that opened in the contract.

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The concessionaire, which also operates the Eix del Llobregat (C-16), the Eix d’Aro (C-35) and the Eix del Ter (C-17), already overcame the strong impact of covid in 2021 . However, 2022 saw turnover drop by just over a million euros, going from 112.7 million in 2021 to 111.4 million in 2022. However, the pandemic slump is far from over . In 2020 the business figure had fallen to only 90.7 million and the profit was just over 21 million, when a year earlier, in 2019, the year before the outbreak of the covid, it had invoiced 112.6 million and earnings had risen to 30.13 million.

The shadow toll consists of a system in which the construction company finances the work and then collects from the administration that has made the concession – in this case the Generalitat – depending on the traffic recorded by the road. The concession of the Transversal Axis ended in 2040, while that of the C-17 ends in 2039 and that of the company’s two other routes in 2038.

The Generalitat, however, decided in November of last year to recover the Transversal Axis, in the most important financial operation in its history. Thus, the Government decided to pay 479 million euros to the concessionaire to recover the road. An operation which, according to the department headed by Minister Natàlia Mas, will allow the Generalitat to save 791 million euros until 2040, when the concession initially ended.

Pending litigation

The company, which was initially set up by Catalan construction companies, but which is now controlled by the French fund Vauban Infrastructure Partners, acknowledges in its management report that this operation does not affect its accounts for 2022. But it indicates that it has written off the asset , including deferred financial expenses and provisions associated with maintenance and repair, with a positive impact of 42.6 million euros.

However, he recalls that he submitted an administrative appeal to the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) against the Government’s decision – still to be resolved – and requested precautionary measures so that the Generalitat’s decision was suspended, but the TSJC dismiss them in January of this year.