Budget carrier SpiceJet on June 29 told the stock exchanges that it will delay announcing its financial results for the quarter that ended March 2023 and for the financial year 2022-23 as a key member of its audit committee is medically incapacitated.
"The Company could not hold the meeting of Audit Committee and Board Members in the past for approval of financial results for the financial year
ended March 31, 2023 due to ongoing medical incapacitation of a key member of its Audit Committee," SpiceJet said in a notice to the stock exchanges.
The airline had three months after March 31, 2023, to file its financial results by June 30, to meet the deadline set by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
This is the second year in a row that SpiceJet has delayed announcing its finances for the quarter that ended in March. Last year SpiceJet had announced its April-June 2022-23 results and January-March 2021-22 results together in September.
SpiceJet had delayed its financial results last year as an attempted ransomware attack had disrupted its operations in May 2022.
The budget carrier that has been struggling with its fleet and domestic carrying capacity due to financial constraints has pushed back its financial results at a time when its rival--IndiGo--reported a quarterly profit of Rs 919 crore for the quarter that ended March 2023.
Air India and Air India Express are also expected to post a consolidated operating profit for 2022-23.
"SpiceJet delaying its Q4 FY23 results points to its struggling operations and inability to compete with rivals," a former senior executive of the airline told Moneycontrol.
Similarly, a source familiar with SpiceJet's operations said that the airline has likely delayed its results to mitigate the impact of a weak result at a time when other airlines are reporting record profits.
"SpiceJet is likely to report a loss for the January-March quarter, which was the first quarter after the pandemic when air passenger traffic beat pre-COVID numbers," the source said.
He added that SpiceJet struggled to take advantage of the boom in domestic traffic seen in January-March due to its limited fleet.
Around 375.04 lakh passengers took to the skies in January-March 2023, nearly 5.8 percent higher than the 354.53 lakh passengers that were flown by domestic airlines in January-March 2019, according to data by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
Around 247.23 lakh passengers had taken to the skies in January-March 2022.
Cash-strapped SpiceJet has been making losses since 2018-19. The airline incurred a consolidated net loss of Rs 302 crore, Rs 9,37 crore, Rs 1,030 crore and Rs 1,744 crore in 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 respectively.
In the first three quarters of 2022-23, the airline has incurred a total consolidated net loss of Rs 1,507 crore.
It is operating about 1,123 flights per week in June this year, which is 55.4 percent fewer than in June last year, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium's data
SpiceJet has been facing trouble with its lessors with as many as 25 out of its 76 planes being grounded as of May this year. The news has come amidst the airline facing an insolvency petition at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
SEBI had in 2021 relaxed the deadline for listed Indian firms to announce their financial results in the wake of surging covid-19 cases.
In a circular, Sebi said listed Indian companies, which are currently required to announce their quarterly financial results within 45 days from the end of the quarter or by 15 May, 2021, are now allowed to file their March quarter results for fiscal 2021 by June 30.
"As per regulation 98 of LODR Regulations, for any contravention with LODR Regulations, SEBI can (i) impose fines, (b) suspend trading in the shares, (c) freeze promoter shareholding, or (d) take any such other action. As of today, by a circular, SEBI has prescribed fine of Rs.5000 per day for non-submission of the financial results within the prescribed period," Shashank Agarwal, Advocate, Delhi HC, said.
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