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Distressed airline Jet Airways Thursday reported a Q3 net loss of Rs 587.77 crore, compared to a net profit of Rs 165.2 crore YoY.
At the same time, its quarter-to-quarter losses narrowed, giving the airline much relief. Jet Airways had incurred a loss of Rs 1,297 crore in the second quarter.
The airline’s Q3 revenues from operations stood at Rs 6147.98 crore, as against Rs 6,086 crore a year ago, the company said in a declaration to the exchange.
The release also said that Jet's lenders, led by State Bank of India, have initiated a comprehensive Resolution Plan under the RBI circular of February 12, 2018.
The resolution plan included infusion of funds, restructuring of debt and monetization of assets, which has been approved by the Board of Directors on February 14, 2019.
The airline had defaulted on its debt repayments in December, and faces a stiff repayment schedule for its over Rs 8,000 crore debt. It needs to repay about Rs 1,700 crore by the end of March. While the company has partly done the scheduled repayment, there are substantial overdue.
High crude in the first six months of the financial year, Rupee depreciation and law fares - due to intense competition - had caused a severe liquidity crunch at Jet Airways. It grounded aircraft, rationalised its sectors and deferred salary payments to its pilots.
For the nine months of the financial year, the company has incurred a loss of Rs 3,208 crore, and has a negative net worth of Rs 10,370 crore. "Also, current liabilities exceed current assets by Rs 9,610 crore," said the company.
The financial obligations "cast significant doubt on the company's ability to continue as a going concern.
While it has been in talks with prospective investors, including Tata Sons and Etihad Airways, a deal is yet to fructify. Etihad, which presently owns 24 percent stake in Jet, is learnt to have put down several conditions, including taking over the operations from Naresh Goyal, the chairman.
The company now has scheduled a shareholder meeting for February 21, to seek approval to convert existing debt into shares or convertible instruments. While this will unlock some equity to its lenders, shareholding of both, Goyal and Etihad, will come down.
Resolution plan
Jet's Board of Directors on Thursday considered and approved a Bank Led Provisional Resolution Plan (BLPRP), which currently estimates a funding gap of around Rs 8,500 crore (including proposed repayment of aircraft debt of around Rs 1,700 crore) to be met by appropriate mix of equity
infusion, debt restructuring, sale/sale and leaseback/refinancing of aircraft, among other things.
"The BLPRP will be presented for consideration of each of the following: (i) the consortium of Lenders (ii) the Overseeing Committee of the Indian Bankers' Association (iii) the Board of Directors of Etihad Airways, and (iv) the Promoter," the company said.
To improve its financial performance, the company said it is focusing on measures that include revenue enhancement and cost containment, a relook on its network and fleet and resizing the business model.
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