Um estudo do desempenho econômico-financeiro e operacional de concessionárias de rodovias federais

Abstract

Infrastructure is one of the socio-economic development pillars in the long-term for any country. Although the service was originally provided by the government, the private sector has increasing its participation at this area. Among the sub-areas of infrastructure, the transport infrastructure is one of the most representatives, especially roads. The road transportation is the most utilized by cargo and people in Brazil. In recent decades it has suffered an investments deficit, which is necessary for its expansion and maintenance of the network. That is why it was implemented a national highways concessions program, with some state arrangements also. The economic regulation of contracts is governed by the principle of economic and financial balance. It is expressed by the basic toll tariff, through the maintenance of the internal rate of return (IRR) while the contract period. The toll performance analysis and their determinants is essential to ensure continuity of service. Therefore, it is necessary not only to analyze the financial performance of concessions, but also the operating performance, since the objectives of the operating companies may differ from the Government interest. This highlights the agency problem that occurs in economic regulation, in which the principal is the regulator and the regulated firms are the agent. So, the concessions considered efficient, compared to the government, are those who can minimize agency costs, by presenting economic and financial gains and offering adequate service to users. Considering this context, this study sought to analyze the performance of federal highway concessions in operation in the country, through the use of economic-financial and operational indicators and comparing them with contractual assumptions. In addition, it sought to identify the critical factors to the efficiency of such concessions. For this it was analyzed the data of standardized financial statements (DFP), technical reports, contracts and additives, and other documents, provided by the National Land Transportation Agency (ANTT) in the period between 2009 and 2012 through four analytical procedures: vertical and horizontal analysis and economic-financial indices of DFP; study of contractual assumptions, operational and technical indicators; correlation analysis of the variables; application of non-parametric statistical tests of average and distribution difference. The results indicated that, on average, more efficient concessions in the analyzed aspects (economic-financial and operational) were those that showed average demand below of 30 million vehicles per year and more than 9 years of contract (comprehends the first stage of the federal concession program). It was also found that, generally, the firms with better economic and financial performance are not the same as presented better operating performance. This highlights the difficulty of minimizing agency costs in the industry.