GMR net loss widens to Rs 108 cr

GMR Infrastructure has reported a net loss of Rs 108 crore for the third quarter of FY12 — nearly five times more than the Rs 22 crore net loss during the year-ago period. High interest costs on net debt of Rs 23,000 cr and lack of increase in the Delhi airport development fee, pending before the Centre, are the main reasons for the steep loss, the company said.

The revenue, though, have gone up by 45 per cent to Rs 2,218 cr, but nearly 18 per cent of that were the ones that were yielding a low operating profit, which further weighed in on GMR.

This was the fourth consecutive quarter in which GMR has posted loss. The management, though, belie-ves that profitability will return to the company once the airport rate hike come in — by next month-end.

The loss of Rs 229 crore incurred by Delhi Airport for the quarter and pending tariff revision coupled with the 32 per cent increase in interest outflow at Rs 424 crore hit the company hard, point out its top managers. They hope that the commencement of a tariff revision process for Delhi Airport consequent to the issue of Consultation Paper by AERA will mitigate the adverse impact of DIAL’s results on the profitability of the company.

GMR Group chairman G M Rao said the imminent tariff revision for DIAL, together with the government’s initiatives for resolution of the power sector concerns, would “make our journey heartening in terms of cash flows”.

As for a muted increase of 19.4 per cent increase in Ebitda, the company cited uncertainty of the timely collection of the trade receivables from National Aviation Company India Limited (NACIL), effective from October 1, 2011 as one of the reasons. Delhi and Hyderabad airports have started accounting receivables from NACIL on receipt basis. This has adversely impacted the gross revenue by about Rs 50 crore in both the airports together.