GMR Infra net loss narrows to Rs 379 cr in Q3

GMR Infrastructure today reported narrowing of its consolidated net loss to Rs 379.38 crore for the December quarter on the back of resolution of regulatory bottlenecks and better operating margins from power plants.

The company's consolidated net loss after tax, minority interest and shares of loss of associates in the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal was Rs 638.33 crore, it said in a BSE filing.

Consolidated total income from operations rose to Rs 3,564.25 crore during the quarter from Rs 2,761.30 crore in the year-ago period.

"Resolution of regulatory bottlenecks, better operating margins from power plants and robust traffic growth in airports have contributed to reduction in losses," the company said in a statement.

The company's ebitda improved to Rs 1,399 crore in the third quarter compared with Rs 671 crore a year ago.

"Ebitda in energy sector has increased by more than seven times to Rs 580 crore for the quarter from Rs 71 crore in the same period last fiscal," the statement said.

Ebitda in the airport sector increased by 45% to Rs 648 crore as against Rs 446 crore.

The company's interest payment for the quarter increased by Rs 202 crore to Rs 1,129 crore primarily on account of interest charge of Rs 91 crore on operationalisation of Chhattisgarh plant and Rs 96 crore on operationalisation of Rajahmundry power plants.

"Further, there is a one-time interest charge of Rs 64 crore in DIAL on Development Fund (DF) loan which was earlier recovered from DF receivable," the statement added.

GMR Infrastructure further said during the current quarter, 150 MW power purchase agreement (PPA) with TANGEDCO (Tamil Nadu SEB) has been fully operationalised, adding that "with the operationalisation of the PPA, the financial performance of the warora power plant is expected to improve significantly."

It further said that 685 MW Unit-I of Chhattisgarh power plant has commenced operations during the current quarter and the company expects the plant to stabilise its operations in the coming quarters.

The company also added that CERC has passed revised tariff orders for 260 MW of power supplied to Gridco and 300 MW supplied to Haryana.

"Based on the order for Gridco, Kamalanga will be eligible for a revised tariff of 3.97/unit for FY14 and adhoc tariff for the FY15 and FY16 is expected to be Rs 3.4/unit," it said.

GMR Group is a leading global infrastructure conglomerate with interests in airport, energy, transportation and urban infrastructure.