Introduction and overview
Letter from our Chair and CEO
We are pleased to present Transurban’s Corporate Report for FY24, our first together as Chair and CEO. This was a year of evolution, as we hit the ground running to meet changing stakeholder expectations and prepare for the significant growth potential that lies ahead. With populations increasing, we’re focused on helping cities grow and making people’s lives easier. This focus guides the opportunities we pursue, and the way we show up for our stakeholders. Underpinning this is our ability to deliver tangible value for our customers, which in turn sustains long-term value for investors. Throughout this report we illustrate the many ways we are delivering on the needs of our stakeholders, both on and off the road. Financial highlights The year has produced strong results right across the business. FY24 saw traffic grow in every market, with approximately 2.5 million average daily trips, up 1.7% on the prior year. Proportional toll revenue increased by more than 6.7% to $3,535 million and we saw a strong EBITDA result for the Group at $2,631 million, up 7.5%. Through FY24, we have continued to actively manage our balance sheet, with weighted average cost of debt up slightly at 4.5% while our disciplined and active approach to cost management saw cost growth of 3.6%, outperforming guidance of 4-6% growth. Our strong balance sheet offers us the support and flexibility we need to take advantage of future growth opportunities. Our full-year distribution of 62 cents per stapled security was up nearly 7% on FY23, and in total, we will pay $1,916 million in gross distributions to our investors. Customer highlights Underpinning these results is the value that our 10.8 million customers experience when choosing our roads, and this year has seen us provide even more value for drivers on and off the road. Time savings continues to be the key reason 1 people choose our roads, with customers collectively saving over 446,000 hours in travel time every workday. Our Linkt Rewards program has gone from strength to strength this year, with five major discount partners now on board and over one million members signed up to the program.
And with research showing that fuel is one of the biggest cost-of-living concerns for Australian households, we provided our more frequent customers with a 12 cents per litre bonus fuel discount this year, to help drive their dollar further. Project updates Alongside these achievements, it’s been a significant year for our projects. We have three major projects expected to open by 2026, 2 and potential opportunities being evaluated in all our markets. Our 95 Express Lanes Fredericksburg Extension opened to traffic in August 2023, creating the longest reversible road in the United States. With the 95 Express Lanes now spanning around 66 kilometres from Washington, DC to Fredericksburg, Virginia, the Extension helps relieve congestion in one of the region’s worst traffic hotspots. With over 3.8 million trips taken on the Extension since opening, drivers who make a round trip are saving an average of an hour a day in travel time. Nearby, works are continuing on our 495 Express Lanes Northern Extension project and new access points on our 95 Express Lanes, both of which are set to further enhance connectivity to commercial and retail hubs and reduce congestion in the region. In Melbourne, work on the West Gate Tunnel project is well advanced, with road deck construction in the tunnels now complete, and finished lanes on sections of the West Gate Freeway open to traffic. Construction of the project’s city connections continues to progress well, ahead of the project opening in 2025. And we’ve seen significant progress on the M7-M12 Integration project, with traffic changes and early construction works now underway to widen the M7 Motorway and connect it to the NSW Government’s new M12. This year also marked the full completion of the WestConnex project, with the final stage – Rozelle Interchange – opening to traffic in November 2023. Delivered by the NSW Government and now operated by Transurban, the Interchange has unlocked new journeys for Sydney motorists and resulted in faster journeys between the CBD and the west and south-west of Sydney. While some congestion was experienced in the surrounding areas of the Rozelle Interchange after opening, travel times on key surface routes have improved in recent months following the initial settling period post opening. In July 2024, we announced a partnership with the Queensland Government to develop plans
to widen almost 10kms of the western section of the Logan Motorway. The Logan West Upgrade project aims to provide congestion relief and reduce travel times while improving road safety in this growing region. ESG and Sustainability As well as making great progress on our projects, this year was also one of significant evolution for our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and sustainability approach. We continued our focus on the transition to net zero 2050 and climate resilience, both in making progress against our SBTi validated near-term 2030 greenhouse gas targets, with a 70% reduction of absolute scope 1 and 2 emissions against our FY19 baseline, and preparing to respond to new sustainability disclosure requirements. The ESG landscape continues to evolve rapidly, and we have put considerable focus this year on preparing for these changes ahead. Listening to our stakeholders It’s important to us that we listen to our stakeholders to understand what we’re doing well and where we could improve. This year, we carried out a robust double materiality assessment to better understand what ESG topics matter most to our stakeholders, from both an impact and financial materiality perspective. Feedback is allowing us to focus our efforts on where we can make a positive difference, such as climate and customer emissions, road safety, and the welfare of our customers. Our annual stakeholder listening program also gave us a great opportunity to hear from our stakeholders about how we’re performing. More than 5,000 people across Australia took part in our Community Engagement Survey, providing feedback on what was important to them and where Transurban can make a meaningful impact. In addition, we sought feedback from our government partners at local, state and federal levels. This exercise is helping us to better understand governments’ evolving expectations of Transurban, our common goals and how we can support them to move people and goods around cities more efficiently. We also continued seeking the views of our customers through our Voice of Customer program, which allows us to gauge our customers’ experiences both on and off the road and shapes how we design and deliver services across our website, app and phone interactions.
Footnotes on following page
6
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software