Utility group NTR has booked a once-off pretax profit of €420.4 million on the sale to the State of the West-Link bridge on the outskirts of Dublin, eight months before the Government makes its first payment on the deal.

The return provided a big boost to NTR's bottom line in the six months to September, a period in which its operating profit declined to €6.5 million from €9.4 million last year.

"This reflects strong operating performances in our Greenstar and Airtricity businesses, offset by losses in our Bioverda business," said NTR finance director Michael Walsh.

NTR is able to take the profit upfront from the West-Link buyout thanks to a monetisation contract with an unnamed financial institution under which it received €488 million in return for interest payments totalling some €112 million over 12 years.

Under the terms of its deal with the Government last May, the group will receive index-linked payments of €50 million a year from the National Roads Authority from August 2008 until March 2020, when a concession dating from the late 1980s runs out.

The buyout is worth a little less than €600 million to NTR.

The return outlined in interim results yesterday represents its profit on the deal.

The results do not reflect the €1 billion sale to German group Eon of the North American windfarms of its 51 per cent-owned unit Airtricity. Bids for Airtricity's European windfarms, also expected to realise €1 billion, are due this week.

NTR's interim revenues rose 36.7 per cent to €281.6 million from €206 million in the period last year.

Excluding the profit on the West-Link transaction, the group reported a 43 per cent rise to €47 million from €32.9 million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

Group operating profit was €426.8 million when the West-Link deal was included in the figures. The profit attributable to NTR shareholders was €345.7 million, including exceptional after-tax profits of €344.2 million.

NTR shares trade on a grey market. The group's board increased its interim dividend to 1.82 cent per share, an increase of 10 per cent over the corresponding period last year.

Capital investment in the period was €393.3 million, including acquisitions of €57.7 million.

This represented an increase of 47.6 per cent over the same period last year.