Kingfisher trims Q1 losses, plans $100-mn GDR issue

Vijay Mallya-led Kingfisher Airlines today said it has narrowed down its loss by Rs 50 crore to Rs 187 crore in the June quarter as against Rs 237 crore in the year-ago period.

Buoyed by the better numbers, the second largest airline also expressed confidence that it can hit markets with the proposed $100-million global depository receipts issue by the end of this quarter.

"The (GDR issue) plan is on track. We hope to hit the market by the end of this quarter," UB Group Chief Financial Officer Ravi Nedungadi told PTI here today after announcing the first quarter results.

The company has appointed merchant bankers such as Citi, Morgan Stanley and CLSA for this purpose, Nedungadi added.

This April, Nedungadi had told PTI that the company would raise funds ($100 million) through a GDR issue by the second quarter. The airline plans to float the GDR issue to reduce its debt.

"The loss after tax for the year has reduced by Rs 50 crore (Rs 187 crore against Rs 237 crore)," the company said. On an overall basis, it reported an EBITDA (earnings before income, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) profit of Rs 127 crore in Q1 as against a loss of Rs 71 crore -–an improvement of Rs 198 crore--during the same period of the previous fiscal, the release said.

The domestic aviation industry has experienced a strong resurgence as the quarter registered a 22 per cent jump in traffic, the release said. "Kingfisher has seen a 12 percentage points rise in load factor to 81 per cent from 69 per cent and a five per cent improvement in yields over the same quarter last year," the airline said.

At the same time, a measured capacity addition by the airlines has led to an around 10 percentage point increase in the load factor, it said. The rise in loads and yields, coupled with several cost reduction initiatives has helped the airline to generate a substantial operating profit during the quarter, the airline said.

This performance was despite intense competition and a 14 per cent reduction in capacity in terms of seats offered, it said.