Toll road owner Transurban expects upgrade work on its Sydney motorways to lift traffic numbers in the year ahead.

Transurban made a net profit of $174.5 million in the 2012/13 financial year, almost three times the previous year’s result – which was hit by a major writedown in the value of one of the company’s roads in the United States.

Chief executive officer Scott Charlton said the 2012/13 result was a return to the norm for the company.

“That was a huge increase but really that was in relation to an impairment charge that occurred last year so now we’re back more along traditional trend,” he said.

Traffic numbers and toll revenue increased on all of Transurban’s Australian roads in the year to June 30.

The company operates Melbourne’s CityLink and Sydney’s M2 and Lane Cove Tunnel, and part owns Sydney’s M7, M5 and Eastern Distributor.

Overall toll revenue rose by 4.7 per cent during the year, and its earnings grew by 6.2 per cent to $676 million.

“That is a great outcome given there was so much construction occurring, particularly in the Sydney network,” Mr Charlton said.

The completion of an upgrade on the M2 would provide a further boost to the business this year, he said.

“We have already seen increased traffic and revenue on the assets in that corridor in recent months, which underpins our confidence in the outlook for the business,” Mr Charlton said.

Almost half of the widening work on the M5, also in Sydney, has been completed, and that work should be finished late in 2014, he said.

Transurban shares were up 12 cents, or 1.8 per cent, at $6.90 at 1252.