Toll road giant Transurban has joint the still-growing list of companies to withdraw or suspend guidance for 2019-20 or 2020 financial year.
In a statement to the ASX yesterday (when road tolls went up around the country by around 1% for the quarter) the company said the withdrawal its second-half dividend guidance was driven by the coronavirus pandemic causing a sharp decline in traffic on its highways.
“Due to the current uncertainty in trading outlook Transurban withdraws its existing distribution guidance for the six months to 30 June 2020 and advises that it expects to pay its 2H20 distribution in line with Free Cash excluding Capital Releases.
Transurban said that traffic was down 14% in March across its roads in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and North America.
Traffic fell 36% last week alone, as restrictions on gatherings, businesses and travel tightened.
Among Australian cities the sharpest fall in the last week of March was in Melbourne, with traffic on CityLink down 43% compared to the same week last year.
Traffic was down 29% last week on Transurban’s Sydney toll roads, which include the M4, M5, M7 and Cross City Tunnel.
Transurban said it has “Sufficient liquidity to meet capital requirements and debt refinancing obligations to end of FY21 with existing balance sheet capacity, and in the absence of any further refinancing activity.”
The company’s securities were up 0.1% at 412.06.
