Sical Logistics posts net loss of Rs 43.93 cr for Sept quarter

Sical Logistics Ltd, a Coffee Day Group company, on Friday reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 43.93 crore for the quarter ended September 30, on account of liquidity challenges faced by the company after demise of its promotor V G Siddhartha.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 4.43 crore for the July-September quarter a year ago, Sical Logistics said in a regulatory filing.

Its revenue from operations fell 17.47 per cent to Rs 297.76 crore during the September 2019 quarter, compared with Rs 360.83 crore of the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.

"The consolidated financial results of Sical Logistics Limited for the quarter ended September 30, 2019, are significantly affected by the liquidity challenges leading to 18 per cent reduction in revenues for the quarter compared to the previous quarter," said Sical Logistics in a post-earning statement.

"The operations have been heavily affected during the quarter due to reduction in volumes leading to under absorption of fixed costs. This led to negative Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) and resultant loss of Rs 41.15 crore for the quarter," it further added.

The liquidity challenges arose on account of demise of its promoter V G Siddhartha.

"Subsequently, multiple meetings with lenders to seek moratorium in debt servicing obligations did not yield positive result," the company said.

It also added that bankers continued to withhold collections from operations towards debt servicing obligations, including certain obligations falling due in the future.

Moreover, new projects won by the company in the previous years, which were supposed to commence operations in the current year are on hold due to current liquidity challenges.

"The board of directors are looking at all possible deleveraging options as well as options to raise liquidity at the company to revert back to normalcy and be in positive profit zone as in the past years," it added.

Shares of Sical Logistics Ltd on Friday settled at Rs 23.05 on the BSE, down 2.12 per cent from the previous close.