Huge interest outgo crimped the bottomline of infrastructure developer GMR Infrastructure, which posted a net loss of Rs 217 crore during Oct-Dec 2012.
The company's interest outgo during the period is said to have risen 24 per cent to a total of Rs 525 crore, reports suggest. It is sitting on a consolidated debt of Rs 35,000 crore with a gearing of close to three times.
However, it may be noted that the firm posted a 30 per cent rise in its operating profit at Rs 359 crore. The company, which during the past quarter was hit by two main factors: having had to give up on the $500-million Male International Airport and the Rs 7,000-crore national highway project in Gujarat, has a silver lining in the fact that its flagship project, Delhi International Airport, has made a profit of close to Rs 9 crore on revenues owing to the a hike in in the aeronautical fee.
The consolidated revenue of the Bangalore-based publicly-held infrastructure developer rose 7 per cent to Rs 2,378 crore. All business divisions - airports, highways and urban infrastructure, except the power segment posted a profit.
Loss in power segment widened by around four times to Rs 57.5 crore as the company was saddled with idle assets and also couple of generating stations working at 40 per cent due to non-availability of liquid fuel.
GMR, which has started the process of arbitration in Singapore against the Male government for forcing them out of the airport contract, said that they continue to hold the assets worth around Rs 1,527 crore at their carrying values, pending the outcome of the arbitration.