Cox & Kings defaults on repayments for 4th time in 3 weeks

Tours and travel company Cox & Kings Tuesday said it has defaulted on its repayment obligations on commercial papers worth Rs 45 crore, while interest of Rs 41 lakh could not be paid timely on bonds worth Rs 50 crore.

This is the fourth instance within a span of just three weeks that the beleaguered firm has defaulted on meeting financial obligations.

In a regulatory filing, the company said that it has defaulted on payment on unsecured commercial papers worth Rs 45 crore on July 16, 2019.

"We wish to further state that as a publically-listed company on BSE Limited and NSE, company has an obligation to report each of these as they arise. The company is working closely with its lenders to optimise its strong asset base globally and bring the situation back to normal as soon as possible," it said in the filing.

In a separate filing, the company said it defaulted on July 15, 2019 towards paying interest of more than Rs 41 lakh during June 15 to July 15, 2019 on secured redeemable non-convertible bonds (NCDs) worth Rs 50 crore.

These NCDs carried a tenure of 24 months at a coupon of 10 per cent per annum payable per month.

"Whilst the company was making all efforts to make the interest payment on time, the same could not be paid due to cash flow mis-match. The company proposes to meet its obligations through a combination of internal accruals and monetisation of assets. The company is working towards plans to make good its obligations," it said in filing.

The first instance of default on commercial papers (CPs) worth Rs 150 was declared by the company on June 27, 2019, a day after the date of actual default. The second instance was made public on default on CPs worth Rs 50 crore on June 29, while the actual default happened on June 28, 2019.

Earlier on July 1, Cox & Kings said that company's working capital situation was stretched in the last few months, which was further impacted due to its inability to replace the short term loans with long term loans or regular working capital lines.

The company is taking all required measures to resolve the temporary cash flow mismatch, it said.

"It is evaluating each business and identifying ways to improve operational performance. The company is focusing on cash flow generation from each business and working at the highest priority to free working capital. The company will also be approaching its lenders to work out some time bound program to meet this emergency," the company had said.

Stock of Cox & Kings closed 4.98 per cent down at Rs 20.05 on BSE.