The combined effect of Jet Airways ceasing operations and enhanced revenue measures undertaken internally has helped IndiGo Airlines report its highest-ever profit after tax (PAT) of ₹1203.01 crore for the quarter ended June 30.
This is a jump over the ₹27.8-crore PAT reported in the last quarter.
“We continue to see a base increase of 5 per cent in our unit revenue due to these initiatives. Cessation of services by Jet Airways positively impacted our profits, helping our unit revenues to grow by 2-3 per cent, to the best of our estimates. This quarter also saw a high percentage of bookings in the 0-15 days window,” Ronojoy Dutta, CEO, IndiGo said in an analysts’ call.
Cargo revenue increased 35 per cent, also helped partially by cessation of Jet’s services.
Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, President and COO, IndiGo said that the airline has got about 30 per cent of the slots (previously operated by Jet Airways). “We would have expected more as our market share is 50 per cent. But that is where we stand at this point in time,” he said. Revenue from operations for the quarter stood at ₹9,420.1 crore, up 44.7 per cent.
Rohit Philip, CFO, IndiGo said that employee costs this quarter were higher. “We gave salary increments to all employees. We have hired a large number of pilots who are currently undergoing training,” he said.
“Besides this, we have sourced ground handling at most of the domestic airports through our subsidiary Agile Airport Services Private Limited. These services were previously outsourced and recorded under other line expense items,” he said.
IndiGo had a EBITDAR of ₹2,778.5 crore with 29.5 per cent margin for the quarter, compared to EBITDAR of ₹1,130.1 crore with 17.4 per cent margin for the same period last year.
Total income for the quarter was ₹9,786.9 crore, an increase of 43.5 per cent year-on-year. Passenger ticket revenues stood at ₹8,445.1 crore, an increase of 46 per cent while ancillary revenues increased 32.2 per cent to touch ₹902.6 crore.
As on June 30 this year the airline had a total cash balance of ₹17,337.1 crore comprising ₹7,696.8 crore of free cash and ₹9,640.2 crore of restricted cash. The airline said that from April 1 this year it had capitalised its operating leases in accordance with Ind AS 116. The capitalised lease liability as of end June this year was ₹16,070.1 crore while the total debt was ₹18,430.9 crore.
Gangwal’s allegations
In what can be seen as a victory for IndiGo co-promoter Rakesh Gangwal CEO Dutta has said that a final decision on appointing a woman director on the IndiGo Board is expected to be taken on Saturday.
The appointment of a woman director on the board was one of the issues of lack of corporate governance which was highlighted by Gangwal.
“But in order to induct an independent woman director we need to change the Articles of Association of the company which now need to be amended,” Dutta said.
Dutta also indicated that the company had sent its response to SEBI to the allegations made by Gangwal.