GMR Infrastructure loss widens in Q3

MUMBAI (Reuters) - GMR Infrastructure Ltd's net sales rose a stronger-than-expected 47 percent in the December quarter even as losses mounted after it was ordered by a court to suspend collection of airport development fees at Delhi airport, which it operates.

The company, which was also hit by a higher interest bill, reported a consolidated net loss of 1.08 billion rupees for the three months to December 31, compared with a loss of 222.5 million rupees a year earlier.

Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) lost 2.29 billion rupees in the quarter after the Delhi High Court told the company to get regulatory approval to collect development fees.

Approval was granted on November 14 and the company resumed collection of the fees in December following a six-month halt.

The adverse impact of the interruption in fee collections "would soon be mitigated", the company said in a statement.

GMR Group leads the consortium that operates the airport. The other partners are the Airports Authority of India, Germany's Fraport and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd.

Net sales rose to 19.99 billion rupees in the quarter from 13.59 billion a year earlier, beating the average analyst forecast of 17.87 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

GMR Infrastructure shares were up 5.0 percent at 2:30 p.m. (0900 GMT). The overall market was down 0.2 percent.

Interest charges rose to 4.24 billion rupees from 3.21 billion a year earlier.

The company said it incurred interest charges of 170 million rupees on a loan to fund the acquisition of a 30 percent stake in Indonesian coal miner PT Golden Energy Mines .

GMR Infrastructure has not disclosed what it spent on the acquisition, which was agreed in August, saying only that it was between $450 million and $550 million.

(Reporting by Rajesh Kurup; Editing by Ted Kerr)