Tulip Telecom posts Rs 656 cr loss, shares fall by nearly 5%

Enterprise data services provider Tulip Telecom today reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 656.59 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, sending its shares lower by over 4.8%.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 66.03 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal, Tulip Telecom said in a filing to the BSE.

Total income of the company also declined over 36% to Rs 417.54 crore for the reported quarter compared to Rs 661.66 crore last year.

The company said it has approached the Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) Cell to restructure its debt "in view of economic slowdown, unfavourable market conditions, increased competition, liquidity constraints, capital blocked in government projects coupled with rising interest cost."

SBI Capital Markets has been appointed to advise the company in its debt recast exercise and it has received formal approval for restructuring its debt by the Empowered Group of CDR Cell, the filing added.

The company has around Rs 3,346.79 crore liabilities (long-term and short-term) as on March 31, 2013.

The company has also defaulted to repay the Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs), which resulted in downgrade of the company's credit rating, it said.

Shares of the company fell 4.83% to Rs 12.80 apiece on the BSE.