Discom dues,fuel woes push Lanco into Rs 31.6cr quarterly loss

Bogged down by underperformance of assets as well as non-payment of dues by discoms, Lanco Infratech today reported a loss of Rs 31.6 crore for the January-March quarter, 2013.

The diversified group had a profit of Rs 72.7 crore in the same period a year ago.

Lanco Infratech COO (Finance) T Adibabu said that a host of factors including underperformance of assets hurt the company's financials.

"The Anpara project (1,200 MW generation capacity) is not performing because of coal problem, infrastructure problem... there is also delay in payments from discoms," he said.

This project only had a Plant Load Factor (PLF) -- an indicator of operational efficiency -- of 32 per cent in the fourth quarter. The plant, which generated 835 units during the fourth quarter, had incurred a loss of Rs 187.3 crore.

The reported revenue of Lanco touched Rs 3,569.6 crore in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal. The same stood at Rs 3,376.2 crore in the same period a year ago.

During the fourth quarter, it incurred a forex loss of Rs 16.7 crore, according to a company statement.

Moreover, the company is yet to receive nearly Rs 3,000 crore dues from various state discoms. This amount is after recovering about Rs 800 crore in March, Adibabu said.

Out of the total outstanding receivables from discoms, Karnataka along owes Rs 1,800 crore while Uttar Pradesh has to pay Rs 350 crore and Tamil Nadu (Rs 250 crore), among others.

For the full year ended March 2013, Lanco recorded a loss of Rs 1,073.3 crore. In the comparable period, the loss was at Rs 112 crore.

The group's net debt touched Rs 33,593.5 crore at the end of March 2013.

Currently, Lanco has an operational capacity of nearly 4,000 MW and another 4,000 MW is under construction.