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Growth fuelled by addition of the May Pen to Williamsfield leg in late 2025

Durrant Pate/Contributor

TransJamaican Highway (TJH) delivered a strong start to 2026, continuing its trajectory of revenue growth, margin expansion, and disciplined balance sheet management. 

The positive performance for the March quarter reflects sustained increases in traffic volumes, operational efficiency, and ongoing deleveraging, reinforcing the resilience of the toll road business model. 

With the addition of the Phase IC leg May Pen, Clarendon to Williamsfield in Manchester in late 2025, TJH continues to maintain solid profitability and cash flow generation, underscoring the robustness of demand and the strength of its concession framework.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2026, TJH which holds a 35-year concession for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the “Highway 2000 East-West” generated revenue of US$29 million, representing a 29% increase (US$6.5 million) over the US$22.5 million recorded in the same quarter in 2025. 

TJH growth drivers

This growth was driven by a combination of organic demand and network expansion, including: 

• The addition of the May Pen to Williamsfield leg, which contributed US$3.5 million, representing approximately 12% of total revenue. 
• Increased commuter traffic across the network. 
• Continued expansion in electronic toll (tag) adoption. 
• Improved throughput and operational efficiencies 

Revenue momentum remains strong, reflecting both sustained traffic growth and the successful integration of new infrastructure, alongside enhanced user convenience across the network. Under the Concession Agreement, TJH has the right to collect revenues generated from commercial exploitation of the areas surrounding the Toll Road, including gas stations and related ancillary services, electricity and telecommunication cables and fibre optics. 

In this area, the company recorded other gains of US$0.2 million, representing a decline of US$0.7 million compared to other gains of US$0.9 million recorded for the corresponding quarter of 2025. The reduction primarily reflects higher foreign exchange losses, movements that are non-core and do not detract from the strength of underlying operating performance. 

Operating expenses inched up

Operating expenses for the quarter under review totaled US$6.5 million, down from US$5.5 million a year ago. The US$1 million increase was mainly attributable to higher amortisation of the intangible asset, increased maintenance activity, insurance and bank charges incurred. 

Importantly, cost growth remains controlled relative to revenue expansion, supporting margin improvement. Administrative expenses, which are primarily comprised of staff costs, depreciation of plant and equipment and other routine office expenses, amounted to US$2.8 million, a marginal increase from the US$2.5 million recorded in 2025. 

The increase mainly reflects strategic investment in human capital including a continued focus on staff welfare and organisational development. These investments align with TJHs long-term growth strategy.

Holding finance costs tight

Finance costs, which are comprised mainly of interest on issued Secured Notes closed the quarter at US$3.1 million, slightly lower than the US$3.3 million recorded in 2025, which reflects the continued decline in interest expense as scheduled principal repayments are made each quarter on the secured notes. 

This is together with the ongoing redemption of preference shares, of which 20% have been redeemed as at January 2026. 

Net profit, being total comprehensive income, increased to US$13.2 million, an improvement of US$4.2 million or 46% compared to US$9.1 million in the corresponding quarter of 2025. The increase reflects higher pre-tax earnings, offset by income tax expense of US$3.5 million, up US$0.5 million year over year.