NTR ‘set to shift focus onto waste’

TOLL road group NTR will continue to reduce its reliance on Dublin’s West Link and East Link bridges and will instead look to Greenstar, its waste management business, to deliver up to 40% of profits next year, according to Davy Stockbrokers.

Davy analyst Florence O’Donoghue said yesterday that waste management would become increasingly important for NTR, whose infrastructure interests also include stakes in windfarm operator Airtricity.

Mr O’Donoghue said three major landfills in the Dublin area were scheduled to close “in the next few years” and that this would create opportunities for Greenstar’s site in Knockharley, Co Meath.

NTR took the decision to diversify in recent years as it sought out high-growth businesses to complement its toll road operations, which offer less potential for big gains.

The company recently added to its two toll bridges in Dublin by winning the contract to collect tolls on the M1 motorway between Dublin and Dundalk.

But it has lost out in the race to be awarded contracts to design, build, finance and operate high-profile toll road projects on routes linking Dublin with Galway and Cork.