IndiGo quarterly profit rises to Rs 140 cr; to add more planes

IndiGo's parent InterGlobe Aviation today reported a 24 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 139.85 crore in the quarter ended September 2016, primarily helped by higher passenger revenues, while the budget carrier expects to have a fleet of 136 planes by end of this fiscal.
The net profit stood at Rs 113.13 crore in the year-ago period.
IndiGo, which has the largest market share in the domestic aviation market, saw its total revenue from operations surge to Rs 4,166.93 crore in the three months to September. The same stood at Rs 3,539.93 crore in the year-ago period.
The budget carrier posted higher profit despite total expenses going up to Rs 4,090.18 crore in the 2016 September quarter, according to a BSE filing.

For the quarter, passenger revenues were Rs 3,597.88 crore, an increase of 18 per cent, while ancillary revenues stood at Rs 558.41 crore, a rise of 17.7 per cent compared with the same period last year, the filing said.
"We are pleased to report another profitable quarter and traffic growth of 32.7 per cent. At the same time, our unit cost excluding fuel has reduced by 9.7 per cent despite operating in an inflationary environment," said IndiGo Whole-Time Director and President Aditya Ghosh.

During an earnings call to discuss the latest quarterly results, a senior IndiGo official said the airline expects to have a fleet of 136 aircraft by end of this financial year.

"We expect 20 of them to be (A320) neos. We already have 11 of them and 9 more to come," the official said.
It currently has 118 aircraft.
IndiGo CFO Rohit Philip said overall there is continued pressure on fares and the revenue environment remains challenging.
"At this time and subject to profitability and our cash position and the cash needs of the business, we believe that we would be in a position to pay an annual dividend for fiscal 2017," he said.
"The recommendation as to the quantum of the dividend will be made by the board of directors based on these factors at the end of the fiscal year. We have a history of returning excess cash to the shareholders and that is what we will try to do in future as well."

At the end of September, IndiGo's total cash balance stood at Rs 6,857.2 crore comprising Rs 2,386.5 crore and Rs 4,470.7 crore of restricted cash.
During the same period, the total debt was at Rs 2,742.8 crore. "The entire debt for IndiGo is aircraft related. IndiGo does not have any working capital debt," the filing said.
The stock closed flat at Rs 924.50 on BSE.