NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD: GMR Infrastructure on Thursday posted a consolidated loss of Rs 2,341.25 crore in the March 2019 quarter, mainly due to impairment losses related to some power assets. The diversified group had reported a consolidated profit after tax of Rs 4.81 crore during the corresponding quarter of 2017-18.
Consolidated total income of the group stood at Rs 2,293.63 crore in the latest March quarter compared to Rs 2,234.88 crore in the year-ago period, according to a regulatory filing. GMR booked an impairment loss of Rs 1,242.72 crore in the value of group's investment in GMR Energy Ltd and its subsidiaries/ joint ventures.
There was also an impairment loss of Rs 969.58 crore related to GMR Chhattisgarh Energy Ltd, an associate of the Group. Together, they totalled Rs 2,212.30 crore. "Our shareholders have lost substantial amount of money in the energy space and we still continue to keep our commitment there and improve the efficiency in the existing energy assets. We have written off the initial investment. At this stage, we would not put more investments in it (energy). If the regulatory environment becomes clearer and more investment friendly, obviously the board of directors will decide for investments at that particular point in time," GMR Infrastructure Executive Director (Finance & Strategy) Suresh Chawla said in New Delhi.
GMR Group Chief Finance Officer (CFO) Suresh Bagrodia was also present on the occasion. GMR Chhattisgarh Energy Ltd (GCEL) is engaged in development and operation of a 2 X 685 MW coal-based power project and had declared commercial operations of Unit I on November 1, 2015, and Unit II on March 31, 2016, of its 1,370-MW coal-based thermal power plant at Raipur district Chhattisgarh.
GCEL does not have any long-term power purchase agreement currently and has been incurring losses since the commencement of its commercial operations and has accumulated losses of Rs 4,228.51 crore as on March 31, 2019.
The company's airport segment reported a Rs 1,357.44-crore revenue with Rs 271.02 profit in the quarter ended March 2019. It had garnered Rs 1,215.06-crore revenue in the year-ago period with Rs 1,215.06 profit. Bagrodia said that for the airport segment, the company's aim is to unlock value through strategic partnership.
GMR Infrastructure has signed a binding term sheet with Marquee long-term strategic and financial investors Tata Group, GIC Singapore and SSG Capital Management for an investment of Rs 8,000 crore, Bagrodia said. "The transaction values GAL (GMR Airports Ltd) at post-money valuation of Rs 22,500 crore, including value from earn-outs amounting to Rs 4,500 crore.The transaction will help in significant deleveraging of GIL and paves way for demerger of airport business," he said.
"Consolidated debt will go down from 24,000 crore to a number which is far more healthy. The first focus is on airport space which is growing well. Today, we are facing capacity constraints at our airports so we need to expand infrastructure there," Chawla said.
He said the airport vertical is tapping the foreign bond markets for long-term debt capital. "Delhi airport recently raised USD 350 million through 10-year bonds at 6.45 per cent per annum for funding of expansion plan from 66 million to 100 million passenger capacity. Hyderabad airport achieved financial closure for expansion of capacity from 12 million to 34 million passengers and raised USD 300 million via five-year bonds priced at 5.375 per cent per annum," he said.
The Hyderabad airport passenger traffic grew 16 per cent to 21.4 million in 2018-19 from 18.3 million in 2017-18. Passenger traffic at the Delhi airport grew five per cent to 69.2 million passengers in 2018-19 as compared with 65.7 million in 2017-18.
It generated a cash profit of Rs 885 crore in 2018-19 against Rs 807 crore in 2017-18.The Mactan Cebu airport in Philippines generated a cash profit of Rs 359 crore in 2018-19 as against Rs 216 crore in 2017-18.