Cintra

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Cintra, S.A. (Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte), (BMAD: CIN) is an international operator of toll roads and car parks. The company is listed on the Madrid stock exchange and is included in the IBEX-35 stock index. The Major shareholders is Ferrovial SA (62.5%). Roads operated by Cintra include Highway 407 (Ontario), the Chicago Skyway, the Indiana Toll Road, and numerous roads in Spain, Portugal and Ireland, as well as the Trans-Texas Corridor (currently in development, to be operated as a partnership with San Antonio, Texas based Zachry Construction Company).

Cintra, SA Type Public Founded 1998 Headquarters Madrid, Spain Key people Enrique Díaz-Rato Revuelta (CEO), Rafael del Pino y Calvo-Sotelo (Chairman of the board) Industry Transportation Products Toll roads, car parks Revenue € 894.8 million (2006) Employees 4,000 (2006) Website http://www.cintra.es

Governor Rick Perry has refused to release many of the details of the $1.3 billion contract his administration has signed with Cintra for a toll road from Austin to Seguin as part of the Trans-Texas Corridor. The Spanish company has had a close relationship with the governor's office: Perry's former legislative director, Dan Shelley, worked as a Cintra consultant and lobbyist prior to joining the governor's staff, and in September 2005, he went back to work for Cintra. Both he and his daughter, Jennifer Shelley-Rodriguez, now have lucrative contracts to lobby Texas legislators on the company's behalf.[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cintra

re/ CINTRA

This is of interest ;-

Wednesday 9th July
FORT WORTH WEEKLY
Rocks for the Goliath Road
Small-town leaders in Central Texas think they've found cracks in the
Trans-Texas Corridor's armor.
By PETER GORMAN
BARTLETT — Sitting in Lois and Jerry's Restaurant, surrounded by a
blue-jean and overalls lunch crowd, Mae Smith and Ralph Snyder don't
look like giant-killers. In fact, the small-town mayor (5' 2") and
the salvage shop owner (6' 6") look more like a Mutt and Jeff comedy
team.
But along with mayors, business leaders, and farmers in Bell County,
north of Austin, and their counterparts in several other parts of the
state, Smith and Snyder are taking on a Texas Goliath — the Trans-
Texas Corridor, the monster transportation project being pushed by
Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas Department of Transportation.
Two years ago, the I-35 section of the project, planned to parallel
the existing interstate, was seen as a done deal, and TxDOT was busy
signing contracts with the Spanish-U.S. consortium called Cintra-
Zachry to build a section of the corridor and operate it as a private
toll road. Now, however, much of the political support for it has
drained away in the face of widespread grass-roots opposition. Even
the project's backers say the small-towners' group may have a chance
of causing major holdups — and perhaps even fatal delays.
Smith, Snyder, and a growing group of leaders in other small towns
and rural areas in the TTC's path have found what they believe to be
a chink in the giant's armor, and they are exploiting it for all
they're worth — backed by national property-rights groups that have
fought government land seizures in other states with some success.
In the last two years, Smith, the 64-year-old firebrand mayor of
Holland, and the leaders of three other Bell County towns, with a
combined population of less than 6,000, had grown increasingly
worried about the threat that the TTC project posed for their
communities. Frustrated by their inability to get state
transportation officials to pay attention to their fears, the mayors
found a provision in state law that allows for the creation of local
planning commissions — and then requires TxDOT and other state
agencies to coordinate projects with those commissions.
So they created a planning commission and began asking for
consultations and records on TTC. And what they found in the process
astounded them.
Smith said that TxDOT claims in official documents that it has
studied the Corridor's expected effects on communities it will run
through — but that it has done no such studies. In the draft version
of its environmental impact study, she said, the agency wrote a
summary — the only part many busy lawmakers are likely to read — that
varied wildly from the information in the body of the
report………………………………..

http://www.fwweekly.com/content.asp?article=7029

Also;-

http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2008/Mar08/031008/031308-
04.htm

This toll road is owned by a public authority so we can see what they
face.

Rod Aldrich

Thruway a road less traveled
Sagging toll revenue amid high gas prices prompts authority to trim costs by scaling back improvements

By CATHY WOODRUFF, Staff writer, Times Union
First published: Thursday, July 17, 2008

ALBANY -- Traffic on the Thruway is taking a nose dive of historic proportions that, combined with skyrocketing construction costs, is prompting the highway's caretakers to scale back projects in a $2.1 billion capital plan.

Stickley Audi & Co
"There will be more mill-and-fill and less full-depth reconstruction,"Thruway Authority Executive Director Michael Fleischer. "Instead of replacing a bridge, we will rehabilitate a bridge. Instead of a 50-year solution, we'll have a 20-year solution."

The authority already had turned a corner with its traffic forecasts for this year, anticipating a decline of 0.1 percent.

But Chief Financial Officer John Bryan said Wednesday his concern has grown steadily since January, when it first became evident that traffic counts could be heading south even more sharply than previous pessimistic predictions.

"This type and size of a problem, I don't think we've ever seen before," he said.

January traffic was down 1.4 percent, but Bryan said Thruway officials weren't yet alarmed, because bad winter weather often can reduce the number of drivers on the road.

Then March traffic was down 0.4 percent, and that slide raised a special concern, Bryan said, because 90 percent of the decline was in commercial traffic. That sent bad vibes about the overall health of the economy, he said.

Official traffic counts aren't yet available for the months since March, but Bryan has been monitoring daily raw numbers for a faster sense of trends.

By April, he said, passenger traffic started a "significant" downward trend, and in May, "the alarm bells started ringing. We saw commercial and passenger traffic down just about every day."

May's apparent decline was around 2.9 percent, he said, "and we started to get really concerned that these high gas prices were causing a significant structural shift."

Finally, "in June, my hopes were really dashed," he said. "That's when
we saw a 5 percent drop in traffic."

Only February's traffic was up, and that stemmed mainly from the extra Leap Year day, according to Bryan.

"We've seen a rather dramatic change this year in our traffic patterns," he said, estimating that overall traffic for the first half of the year is down about 1.5 percent.

Through March, Bryan said, toll revenue was about $4.5 million short of budget projections.

Meanwhile, Thruway officials say they are making regular adjustments in the schedule for bidding and scope of work for capital projects because of the sluggish toll revenue and rising costs of materials.

"We planned for a 30 percent increase in asphalt. It's 60. You plan for a 40 percent increase in steel and it doubles in a month," said Bryan. "It's just one surprise after another."

"From 2005 to now, we've lost, probably, close to 40 percent of our purchasing power," he estimated.

Just about a year ago, Thruway officials first started eyeing sluggish traffic counts and considering altering their expectations.

This April, the authority approved a new round of toll hikes to take effect in January 2009 and January 2010 as part of a plan to cover the cost of repairs to the half-century-old highway system.

Also as part of that plan, E-ZPass discounts dropped to 5 percent on June 29. There will be some one-time cash toll hikes at barriers, and the cost of annual commuter permits will rise slightly in 2009 and 2010.

The first toll hikes aimed at funding the capital program were passed in 2005.

Now, Fleischer said, the authority will keep exploring ways to trim expenses, reduce staff and operate more efficiently.

On Wednesday, the Thruway's board of directors approved a one-year contract with Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, a branch of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Research and Innovative Technology Administration, to review Thruway operations and recommend improvements. The maximum cost of the work is to be $250,000.

"In the short term, we are tightening our belts, and we will keep our budget in balance," Fleischer said, but it also will be necessary to consider other, more lasting changes to respond to reduced traffic and
toll income.

"Some of these shifts may be, to some degree, permanent," he said. "We may not go back to 2 percent growth for some period of time." Woodruff can be reached at 454-5093 or by e-mail at cwoodruff@timesunion.com.

ablaicehouse  17/07/08

Bankruptcy fears hit Spanish building stocks

Martinsa-Fadesa's administration move highlights precarious state of
market
By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
Last update: 6:47 a.m. EDT July 15, 2008
LONDON (MarketWatch) - Companies connected to the Spanish property
market fell sharply on Tuesday, with investors spooked by the
sector's first likely high-profile bankruptcy.
Property developer Martinsa-Fadesa (ES:016137601: news, chart,
profile) said on Monday that it would seek credit protection after it
couldn't raise a 150 million euro loan.
Martinsa-Fadesa is one of the largest real estate companies in Spain,
with assets of nearly 13 billion euros ($20.8 billion).
"Martinsa has always been a clear suspect, given its over-leverage
and the high weight of unzoned land in its balance sheet," said
analyst Inigo Vega of Iberian Securities
Martinsa-Fadesa shares were suspended at 7.30 euros on Monday, after
falling 48% on Friday when the firm said that it had requested more
time to raise funds.
Analysts said that Martinsa-Fadesa's statement is likely the tip of
the iceberg for bad news from the Spanish construction sector and the
banks that have lent to them.
The institutions that are seen as most exposed to Martinsa-Fadesa's
debt - which is around 5.2 billion euros ($8.3 billion) - are
CajaMadrid, La Caixa, Banco Popular (ES:011379053: news, chart,
profile) and Caixa Catalunya, Vega said.
Popular shares fell 4.5%, while the Spanish Ibex index dropped 2.8%
on Tuesday, underperforming other European equity markets. See Europe
Markets.
Other companies in the construction sector trading sharply lower
included Sacyr-Vallehermoso (ES:018287021: news, chart, profile) ,
down 11.9%, Grupo Ferrovial (ES:016260101: news, chart, profile) ,
down 10.4%, ACS Actividades de Construccion (ES:016705091: news,
chart, profile) , down 6.4%, and Inmobilia Colonial (ES:013914001:
news, chart, profile) , down 7%.
Vega noted that Martinsa's debt accounts for around 1.7% of the
approximately 310 billion euros lent to Spanish developers.
Dominic Bryant, strategist at BNP Paribas, said: "With credit markets
still stressed, access to funding could create issues for highly
indebted companies. Generally, debt levels of the Spanish non-
financial corporate sector are well above the euro-zone average."
"With such a huge adjustment ongoing in the Spanish construction and
real estate sector, we should not be surprised if other companies
were to fold," he added. 
Sarah Turner is a markets reporter for MarketWatch in London.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/spanish-building-stocks-fall-
amid/story.aspx?guid=%7BB611F109%2D6682%2D4D61%2DAD23%2D54F4E92B5753%
7D

http://news.google.co.uk/news?hl=en&q=ferrovial&um=1&ie=UTF-
8&sa=N&tab=wn

( Remember Heathrow Terminal 5 fiasco?)

AIRPORTS operator BAA has unveiled details of a £4.5 billion plan to
refinance its growing debts following negotiations with investors.
The company has asked bondholders to swap their bonds for new notes
secured on Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

BAA, which operates seven airports including Edinburgh and Glasgow,
has about £12 bn in debts after it was taken over by Ferrovial, the
Spanish infrastructure group, two years ago. Ferrovial has been
trying to renegotiate more favourable interest payments on £10bn of
that debt for the past year.

http://business.scotsman.com/transport/BAA-in-45bn-debts-
scheme.4284667.jp

( Cintra ( Ferrovial )- coming soon to a Toll road in Meath)

Toll Hikes Used to Boost Foreign Company Profits

North American motorists pay extra to cover the losses at a Spanish
toll road giant.

(5/9/08) TheNewspaper.com -- Drivers in North America are paying
higher fees to cover the red ink of a Spanish infrastructure firm.
Global toll road giant Cintra announced yesterday that its first
quarter revenue had jumped 15.3 percent thanks in part to toll hikes
on roads in the US, Canada, Chile, Ireland and Spain. Despite
collecting 881 million Euros (US $1.4 billion) from drivers last
year, the company failed to make a profit. The company lost 16
million Euros (US $25 million) in the first quarter of this year.

During this time, traffic dipped 8.9 percent on the Chicago Skyway
and 6.1 percent on the Indiana Toll Road. In an earnings statement,
Cintra blamed bad weather and the "betterment" of free alternative
routes such as the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago for reducing
profit. The weakening dollar also cut into the Spanish company's
revenue from US motorists.

Those American motorists are now paying significantly more as a
result. In 2005, Governor Mitch Daniels (R) leased the Chicago Skyway
to Cintra and the Australian tolling firm Macquarie for the next 99
years. The consortium hiked tolls 20 percent earlier this year,
charging motorists $3 each to drive the 7.8 mile route.
In April, Cintra raised toll rates for drivers on the Indiana Toll
Road by 21 percent. In another hike, the company nearly doubled the
toll for motorists who do not use an electronic toll transponder. The
cash price for driving the length of the route jumped to $8, up from
$4.65.
In Canada, Cintra won the right to set whatever rates it chooses on
the 407 ETR toll road in a 2005 Ontario court decision. Since then,
Cintra has raised the toll by nearly 30 percent. Cintra also owns the
newly opened SH-130 toll road in Texas.

http://www.paturnpike.com/straighttalk/news/nr050908.aspx
Thomson Financial News
Cintra Chicago Skyway May traffic falls 13.01 pct yr-on-yr on
economic slowdown
06.10.08, 6:05 AM ET

MADRID
Thomson Financial) - Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de
Transporte SA said traffic on its Chicago Skyway fell 13.01 percent
to total 44,800 units in May from a year earlier, due mainly to toll
hikes and the impact of the economic slowdown.
In a statement, the company said traffic on its Canadian 407 ETR
motorway fell 2.17 percent in May from a year earlier.
On its Indiana Toll Road, traffic fell 10.23 percent to 29,498 units
in May from a year earlier.
Cintra said toll increases on the Chicago Skyway, starting January
2008, and on the ITR, starting April 2008, had a negative impact on
both roads.
In Spain, the two Ausol motorways also saw a slowdown in traffic.
'Traffic on both roads reflects the impact of Spain's economic
slowdown, particularly on the coast,' the company said.

http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/06/10/afx5098609.h
tml

Also ;-

http://www.ferrovial.com/en/
  pat - HillofTara    15/07/08

FT - News - Cintra

Posted by: "mp537644" molliepmac@btinternet.com   mp537644

Tue Mar 10, 2009 10:11 am (PDT)