GMR Infra swings to Rs 1,007 cr loss in Q4

GMR Infrastructure today reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 1,006.70 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, due to one time loss incurred from the sale of its investment in global power entity InterGen NV.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 73.1 crore during the corresponding quarter of 2009-10.

"We incurred a loss of Rs 939 crore as carrying cost on account of divestment of our shares in InterGen NV," GMR Group's Chief Financial Officer A Subba Rao told PTI over phone from Bangalore.

GMR had bought 50% stake in InterGen in 2008 at Rs 5,127 crore, while it sold the firm last year at Rs 5,565 crore.

However, the loss of Rs 939 crore was incurred on account of transaction cost, interests paid and expenses during the holding period, Rao said.

He added that loss due to divestment of InterGen also affected the annual results of the company, as it posted a net loss of Rs 929.64 crore in FY11.

The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 158.40 crore in 2009-10.

"Though the divestment of Intergen has resulted in a one time and non-recurring loss of Rs 939 crore, it has released an equity capital of Rs 958 crore and would enable us to reinforce our focus and resources on more profitable Indian Assets. We would continue to emerge stronger," GMR Group Chairman GM Rao said in a statement.

Besides this, the net income of the company registered a whopping growth of over 74% at Rs 1,962 crore during the January-March quarter of FY11 as compared to Rs 1,125 crore reported in 2009-10, a company statement said.

For the full year 2010-11, the net income of the company rose by 26% at Rs 5,773.8 crore vis-a-vis Rs 4,566.5 crore of 2009-10, the statement added.

Delhi International Airport, a subsidiary company of GMR Infra, reported a net loss of Rs 448 crore in 2010-11, while during January-March quarter, the net loss was Rs 214 crore.

"The loss was mainly on account of increased operating costs and there is a need for tariff revision. We will be applying for that within a month," GMR CFO Rao said, adding that most of the airport charges were fixed long back.

Talking about the energy business of the company, he said that GMR Group will add about 1,768 MW new power generation capacity in the current fiscal by commissioning three units at Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.

The group is also expecting to arrange finances and getting environmental clearance for its two hydro power plants of 480 Mw capacity in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand during the year.

"We are waiting to get environmental clearance for the two projects, after which we will secure finances for them. It should happen in this fiscal," Rao said.

Besides this, the company is also expecting to begin production from its coal mine in Indonesia in next 1-2 quarters.

"We will begin with 2 million production initially. Ramping up the production will depend on whether we require coal here for our operations," he said.

Talking about the Group's interests in roads and highways, the GMR Group CFO said that three highways projects are under-construction and about 25-30% of the work has been completed, while six projects are operational.

The shares of GMR Infra today closed at Rs 35.65 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, up 4.85% from the previous close.