Tulip Telecom net loss at Rs 85 cr

Tulip Telecom today reported consolidated net loss of Rs 84.99 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2012 due to subdued macro-environment, which led to prolonged conversion of prospective clients to order book.

The enterprise data services provider company had posted a net profit of Rs 77.25 crore in the corresponding period last financial year.

Total revenues for the company also declined 23% to Rs 528.67 crore for the reported quarter as compared to Rs 686.59 crore in the same period last year, Tulip Telecom said in a BSE filing.

"The financial performance is reflective of the challenges in the macro environment combined with internal liquidity constraints which is impacting topline and earnings performance," Tulip Telecom Chairman and Managing Director HS Bedi said.

He, however, added, "We have build extremely solid asset base and will continue to leverage this infrastructure to improve utilisation rates and efficiencies which are expected to translate to healthy performance over medium to longer term."

During the quarter, the company initiated discussions with lenders to restructure debt with longer maturity periods under corporate debt restructuring (CDR) mechanism.

The company has about Rs 2,700 crore debt, which includes Rs 780 crore in foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs), Rs 600-crore worth of term loans, NCDs (Rs 545 crore) and ECBs worth Rs 340 crore.