Lanco Infratech Q4 loss widens to Rs 584 cr income down 23%

Full year loss widens to 2,274 cr from 1,020 cr due project delays, cost escalation

Lanco Infratech said its net loss for the quarter ended March 31 widened to Rs 584.29 crore on account of drop in revenue and mounting losses in EPC and construction business.

The power company had reported a net loss of Rs 31.59 crore in the same period of previous year.

Total income from operations declined by nearly 23 per cent to Rs 2,762.3 crore in the fourth quarter under review from Rs 3,569.6 crore a year ago.

Revenue from EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) segment in the quarter was down by nearly 55 per cent to Rs 670.42 against Rs 1,476 crore during the same period a year ago. The segment reported loss of Rs 376.21 crore in the last quarter of FY14, against Rs 335.59 profit before tax and interest during Q4 of FY13.

For the full year 2013-14, Lanco's loss widened to Rs 2,274 crore from Rs 1,070.2 crore in the last fiscal.

"Due to delays in execution of contracts, the cost associated with price escalations, claims of the service providers, sub-contractors and upwards revision of estimated cost - comprising providing for expected loses on some ongoing projects and additional costs in recently completed or discontinued projects - resulted in losses for the quarter and for the year," Lanco said in a statement here last evening.

Griffin Coal, Lanco's Australian coal mining arm, posted 65 per cent fall in revenue to Rs 145.4 crore in Q4, FY14 from Rs 411.4 crore in the same period of FY13.

The company has an EPC (including power and solar projects) order-book of Rs 26,178 crore, of which 84 per cent constitutes internal projects, the statement said.

Lanco said it has outstanding receivables of over Rs 2,823.5 crore from various state utilities as of March 31.