SpiceJet's Ajay Singh pledges one-third of his stake

At least more than one-fifth of SpiceJet shares have been pledged, with promoter Ajay Singh pledging nearly 34 per cent of his stake in the low-cost carrier.

Singh, the original co-founder, took back the reins last December with SpiceJet facing turbulent times. He has already pumped in more than Rs 800 crore and continues to explore various investment options for the carrier.

The promoter holding in the company stood at little over 60 per cent at the end of the June quarter and of the total, about 34 per cent were pledged by Singh, according to latest data available with the stock exchanges.

Around 34 per cent of Singh's stake is "pledged or otherwise encumbered".  

This accounts for more than 20 per cent or one-fifth of the total shareholding in the carrier, as per the data.

At the end of June quarter, he held about 59.13 per cent stake that includes 0.49 per cent shareholding in the name of Ajay Singh (HUF).

Shares of the company rose 3.64 per cent to close at Rs 22.80 on the BSE. Among domestic carriers, SpiceJet recorded the highest load factor — an indicator of its performance — of 93.2 per cent in June.

After seven quarters of losses, SpiceJet posted a net profit of Rs 22.51 crore in the January-March period helped by renegotiated contracts and settlements and provisioning for re-delivery expenses, among others. The airline had reported a net loss of Rs 321.5 crore in the same period a year ago.

"We were at a phase where the airline was actually shut down... The focus is now on getting back consumer confidence and we will work on that for a few more months," Singh had said in June.

"SpiceJet is on a highly visible upswing again... Funding requirement depends on how much the company needs," he had said while adding that more money would be put in for expanding the fleet.