Hanshin Expressway Company Limited (E04372) Stock Price

Hanshin Expressway Company Limited manages and operates the expressway network in the Kansai region, centered around Osaka and Kobe. The company handles all aspects of expressway management, including construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair, and disaster recovery. Its primary revenue source is tolls collected from road users. A distinctive feature of the company's operations is that it prioritizes the public nature of expressways and structures its toll system to exclude profit margins.

The company's main customers are expressway users, and its revenue structure is centered on management fees commissioned by road authorities and toll revenue. Toll revenue is allocated to loan payments to the Japan Expressway Holding and Debt Repayment Agency and management expenses, providing a stable revenue base. Additionally, contracted road projects from national and local governments represent an important revenue source.

The business is organized into three segments: expressway operations, commissioned projects, and other related operations. In expressway operations, the company delegates toll collection, traffic management, and maintenance inspection tasks to 13 consolidated subsidiaries to build an efficient operational structure. In other related operations, the company diversifies its business by operating rest facilities at parking areas, managing elevated parking lots, and maintaining other road facilities.

Hanshin Expressway operates and manages a high-speed road network supporting 720,000 daily vehicles as critical infrastructure for the Kansai metropolitan area. The company is executing a growth strategy based on its long-term vision toward 2030 and a medium-term management plan for 2023-2025. Under the group philosophy of "Advancing Road Services," the company is pursuing sustainable evolution and growth through sustainability-focused management. The core of its management strategy is realizing "six desired states," encompassing comprehensive initiatives from safety improvements to new business development.

Priority investment focuses on large-scale renewal projects for road infrastructure that has been in operation for 60 years, simultaneously addressing aging infrastructure and strengthening seismic performance. The company is steadily advancing network expansion projects totaling 258.1 kilometers in length, including the Yodogawa Left Bank Line Phase 2 and the western extension of the Osaka Bay Coastal Road, aiming to reduce traffic congestion and improve logistics efficiency in the Kansai region. On the safety front, the company is strengthening technical measures against wrong-way driving and incorrect entries, as well as reducing traffic accidents, while concentrating investment on ensuring infrastructure functionality during disasters.

In new market development, the company is accelerating diversified business expansion leveraging accumulated technologies and expertise. Specifically, it is expanding management outsourcing for surrounding expressways, civil engineering and compensation consulting services including overseas operations, and parking lot operations utilizing space under elevated structures—securing revenue sources independent of traditional toll income. Additionally, the company is enhancing value-added services for road users through multi-purpose ETC utilization and new services at parking areas.

Regarding technological innovation, the company is advancing development of seamless infrastructure management systems utilizing ICT and urban MaaS (integrated mobility services combining multiple transportation services). The company is also focusing on LED conversion of road lighting and decarbonization through renewable energy utilization, productivity improvements using data and digital technology, and plans to launch new value creation projects leveraging the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo as an opportunity.