IRB Infra shares rise on 27% jump in toll collections

Shares of IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd (IRB Infra) were trading higher amid a weak market on Friday as the company announced a strong increase in the cumulative toll collection on a year-on-year (YoY) basis for the month of February 2023.

Infra Infrastructure reported a 27 per cent rise in cumulative toll collection, along with its private infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) arm IRB Infrastructure Trust, to Rs 352 crore in February 2023. The company had reported a cumulative toll collection at Rs 277.47 crore in the year ago period.

However, on a monthly comparison, its cumulative toll collection reduced by 6 per cent from Rs 374.82 crore in the month of January 2023.

Shares of IRB Infra rose about 2 per cent to Rs 30 on Friday, before trading at Rs 29.92 at 11.15 am. The scrip had settled at Rs 29.48 on Thursday. BSE Sensex was trading 646.51 points, or 1.08 per cent, lower at 59,159.77 at the same time.

Shares of IRB Infra have jumped about 30 per cent in the last one year, whereas it has been trading flat on a year-to-date basis. The stock is marginally up in the last one month.

"The February 2023 toll collection on all the corridors we manage nation-wide, have once again revealed the consistency and robustness in the growth over last year; thus, reflecting India’s economic stability in the post pandemic era," said Virendra D. Mhaiskar, Chairman & Managing Director of IRB Infrastructure Developers.

IRB Infra's shares were split into 1:10 ratio in February 2023. The corporate action was announced in January 2023. It recently bagged a project from the National Highways Authority of India for a section of National Highway 27 (NH-27) in Gujarat with a cost of 2,132 crore.

IRB Infra has an asset base of over Rs 62,000 crore in 10 states across the parent company and two InvITs. The company has been involved in constructing, operating and maintaining around 16,000-lane km highways pan-India.

At present, IRB group’s project portfolio, including private and public InvIT, has 23 road projects that include 18 BOT (build, operate, and transfer), 1 TOT (toll-operate-transfer) and 4 HAM (hybrid annuity model) projects.

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