IndiGo reports Rs 620 cr loss in Q3, revenue drops 51% YoY to Rs 4,910 cr

InterGlobe Aviation-run IndiGo airline on Thursday reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 620.1 crore for the October-December quarter of FY21 (Q3FY21), as against a net profit of Rs 490.5 crore in the year-ago period. The airline, however, narrowed its loss from Rs 1,194.8 crore incurred in the September quarter of FY21.
 

"The high level of consumer confidence in our product has indeed been heartening and we are glad to be making graduated and measured steps to a full recovery. We look forward to a gradual opening up of international scheduled flights during the next few months because increased capacity and aircraft utilization are so very critical for our return to profitability,” said Ronojoy Dutta, chief executive officer of the airline.
 

The pre-tax loss came in at Rs 623.1 crore for the quarter under review, compared with pre-tax profit of Rs 556.5 crore clocked in Q3FY20. Sequentially, however, the loss declined from Rs 1,194.8 crore reported in Q2FY21.
 

The bottom-line number meet Street expectation that was baking-in a net loss of over Rs 600 crore. Analysts at Centrum Broking expected IndiGo to post a net loss of Rs 620 crore, while those at Elara Capital expected the loss to be around Rs 250 crore. An outlier estimate by global brokerage HSBC had pegged the budget airline’s loss at a massive Rs 837.6 crore. 
 

Meanwhile, the airline’s revenue from operations came in at Rs 4,910 crore, down 50.5 per cent from Rs 9,931.7-crore revenue reported in the previous year quarter. On a QoQ basis, the revenue jumped 79.1 per cent from Rd 2,740.9 crore clocked in Q2FY21.

Analysts at Edelweiss Securities expected the airline's revenue to grow 227.6 per cent QoQ to Rs 8,979.3 crore, while Kotak Institutional Equities pegged the same at Rs 5,080 crore. CLICK HERE TO READ ANALYSTS' EXPECTATIONS
 

Overall, the Gurugram-based airline's total income came in at Rs 5,142.8 crore, a decrease of 50.2 per cent over the same period last year. For the quarter, their passenger ticket revenues were Rs 4,069.3 crore, down 53.6 per cent YoY while ancillary revenues were tumbled 22.1 per cent YoY to Rs 807.8 crore.

"Total expenses for the quarter ended December 2020 were Rs 5,765.9 crore, down by over 41 per cent over the same quarter last year," it said in a statement.

Operational performance

The earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization and rent (Ebitdar) stood at Rs 987.1 crore in the quarter under study, as against Rs 1,960.7 crore in Q3FY20. Ebitdar margin of 20.1 per cent for the quarter.

That apart, the airline's load factor at the end of Q3FY21 stood at 72 per cent, down from around 88 per cent in the previous year quarter. It's Available Seat Kilometer (ASK) decline 40.8 per cent YoY to 15.3 billion from 25.8 billion at the end of Q3FY20.

"The fourth quarter fiscal 2021 capacity in ASKs is expected to be around 75-80 per cent of fourth quarter fiscal 2020 capacity," the company said in a statement.

The Revenue Passenger Kilometer (RPK), on the other hand, came in at 11 billion from 22.6 billion.

Cash and cash equivalents

lndiGo had a total cash balance of Rs 18,365.3 crore, comprising Rs 7,444.5 crore of free cash and Rs 10,920.7 crore of restricted cash.
 

The capitalized operating lease liability, meanwhile, was Rs 24,557.9 crore. The total debt (including the capitalized operating lease liability) was Rs 27,726.1 crore, the airline's financial statements show. 

Shares of the airline company ended 0.04 per cent higher at Rs 1.590 apiece on the BSE. During the quarter under review, the price zoomed 38 per cent on the BSE as against a 25.4 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex, ACE Equity data show.