GMR Infrastructure loss widens in Q3

Policemen rest inside Terminal 3 at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi July 3, 2010.

MUMBAI (Reuters) - GMR Infrastructure Ltd's (GMRI.NS) 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.

The company's shares closed up 7.4 percent in a strong Mumbai market.

Interest charges rose to 4.24 billion rupees from 3.21 billion a year earlier. This included 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 (GEMS.JK).

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.

CAPEX TO RISE

The company said it would set aside about 140 billion rupees for capital expenditure for the fiscal year starting April 1, up from 100 billion in the current year.

The additional spending will be used mainly for road projects and for building an airport in the Maldives, Group Chief Financial Officer Subbarao Amarthaluru said on a conference call with reporters.

The Male airport project, which GMR Infrastructure is undertaking with Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014.

The Bangalore-based company expects three road projects, totaling 1,200-lane km (1,900 miles) to open in the coming financial year, Amarthaluru said.

GMR Infrastructure had a net debt 250 billion rupees as of December 31, and this is slated to rise further, he said without elaborating.

The company is ready to launch an initial public offering of shares in its power unit, GMR Energy, but is waiting for markets to improve, he added.

"So as soon as the markets are ready, then we have the IPO."

GMR Infrastructure shares closed 7.4 percent higher at 31.15 after. The overall market rose 0.48 percent.

(Additional reporting by Manoj Dharra; Editing by Ted Kerr)