Maytas Infra posts Rs 473-crore loss in 2008-09

Maytas Infrastructure, the listed company run by the family of Satyam Computers founder B Ramalinga Raju, has incurred a net loss of Rs 473.55 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2009, compared with the net profit of Rs 90.74 crore in the corresponding period previous year.

On a consolidated basis, net revenues for the financial year ended March 31, 2009 were down 12.23 per cent to Rs 1,644.65 crore from Rs 1,873.93 crore during the corresponding period previous year.

On a standalone basis, the company incurred a net loss of Rs 489.78 crore as compared with a net profit of Rs 99.94 crore previous year. Revenues dropped 18.47 per cent to Rs 1,334.87 crore compared with Rs 1,637.35 crore in the corresponding period previous year.

For the quarter ended June 30, the company reported a net loss of Rs 16.28 crore as against a net profit of Rs 20.05 crore in the corresponding period previous year. It revenues for the quarter reported a fall of 46 per cent to Rs 208 crore from Rs 384 crore during the corresponding period previous year.

Chairman B Teja Raju said Maytas Infra had faced unprecedented developments during the year, involving investigation by government agencies. Due to this, he said, the company was not able to publish financial results for quarters ended December 31, 2009, and March 31, 2009. The company’s lenders have sanctioned a corporate debt restructuring (CDR) package by restructuring the repayment over seven years commencing from December. The adjustment of interest on account of CDR has not been considered in the financial results.

He said in case of some special purpose vehicles for execution of build, operate and transfer projects, the company could not meet equity calls due to the liquidity crunch and consequently decided to divest a part of its subscribed and/or unsubscribed equity.

The management, based on the order book as on March 31, and the steps taken by the government-appointed directors for reviving the business, was confident of executing future projects and meeting its financial obligations, he said.

Ved Jain, a government-appointed director, said the events that occurred in the company had seriously affected its business operations during the financial year ended March 31, 2009, to a large extent. The substantial operational loss is due to low level of operations, project cancellations and cost escalations. The company was slowly emerging out of the turbulent times, he said.

The auditors have qualified the consolidated report for the year by stating that they were unable to get clarifications or representations from the auditors of subsidiaries and joint venture entities and the company management arranged for audited financial statement in respect of these entities.

The auditors also said they were unable to comment on the realisability of assets, current and fixed, of Rs 218.27 crore deployed at terminated project sites. They were also not able to comment on the recoverability of the inter-corporate debt (ICD) of Rs 440.16 crore pending final resolution. The management is taking steps, including legal action, to recover the ICD. The auditors also noted that the directors were paid Rs 1.87 crore excess and necessary approvals were sought from the government.