New Delhi : GMR Infrastructure, the Bangalore-based publicly organised infrastructure developer, is gearing for a stabilization stage throughout the current financial year, after years of utilizing intensely to build resources worth as much as Rs 64,000 cr, which resulted in a debt of close to Rs 40,000 crore under a leverage of 3.5 times on its net-worth.
The company, which has interests around airports, power stations and highways, has said that as part of its “asset light – asset right” strategy began during January 2013, it has been ready to shed assets worth Rs 10,000 cr as a result of which the there has been an equity infusion of Rs 4,000 cr & a net debt reduction of Rs 6,000 cr so far.
As part of this move, the company which shed some 5 assets around airports, power projects & highways said that its net profit for the fourth quarter of Fy14 was at Rs 1170 cr as towards a net loss of Rs 441 cr throughout corresponding previous quarter. Net Revenues grew by a healthy 22% to Rs 2436 cr.
G M Rao, Group Chairman, GMR said: “We are now on a stable path with the perfect mix of assets, decreased debt levels & optimum cost utilization. With our assets becoming operational and stabilizing, we anticipate the performance to increase in the coming year. We are hopeful that there will be revival in the infrastructure sector & we are well poised to participate in this phase.”
Senior management officials further added that the asset light strategy will continue, but they will not be rushing through it. “We are reasonably comfortable and we can afford to wait till we get the correct assessment for the assets. There are good incoming interest for the assets which are operational and we are exploring all of them to drive maximum value,” Madhu Terdal, Group CFO, GMR Infrastructure said.
It is recognized that GMR has obtained some powerful interest for its 2 functional coal-fired power plants in Maharashtra & Orissa & they are evaluating acutely on how to take forward the offers.
“To a huge extent, the debt inflow will decrease considerably, even as we look to increase equity during Fy15. This will bring stability to the leverage issue. At a corporate level, our debt is Rs 6,000 cr & we predicted to decrease that by around Rs 1,500 cr during Fy15,” Terdal added.
EPC World News Bureau
The post GMR Infra receives set for a stabilizing phase appeared first on EPC World.