InterGlobe Aviation Q4 Results: Profit Misses Estimates Despite Currency Gains

InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., the parent company of IndiGo, reported profit for the second straight quarter in the three-month period ended March.

The operator of India's largest airline reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 919 crore in the fourth quarter, as against a net loss of Rs 1,682 crore over the same period last year, according to its exchange filing. A consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg had projected the net profit at Rs 1,022 crore.

Profit for the quarter includes foreign exchange gains of Rs 253 crore. Excluding these gains, the net profit stood at Rs 666 crore.

InterGlobe Aviation Q4 Highlights (YoY)

• Revenue rose 77% to Rs 14,161 crore, against a forecast of Rs 13,909 crore.

• Ebitdar rose 1,627% to Rs 2,966.5 crore vs. Rs 171.8 crore.

• Ebitda margin stood at 20.9% vs. 2.1%.

“With a combination of robust market demand and focused execution of our strategy, this was the second consecutive quarter wherein we produced strong operational and financial results, as we reported the highest ever fourth quarter net profit of Rs 9,192 million,” Pieter Elbers, chief executive officer of the airline, said in a statement.

For the year ended March, the company's profit stood at Rs 2,654 crore, excluding the foreign exchange impact. Due to the currency impact, the airline operator slipped into losses of Rs 306 crore this fiscal.

This is only the third time in the last 13 quarters that the airline operator has registered a profit.

The aviation sector was one of the worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, requiring first a nationwide lockdown and then local curbs to mitigate the spread of the virus.

However, India's air passenger traffic recovered in the third quarter and climbed to an over three-year high in March, underlining strong momentum even after the peak festival season.

During the quarter, the airline's load factor stood at 84.2% as compared with 76.7% last year, and it carried 60.5% more passengers at 2.34 crore.

Despite strong air passenger traffic during the quarter, the airline's performance dipped as compared with the previous quarter.

IndiGo's yield, a measure of profitability per seat, surged 10.2% year-on-year but dropped 9.8% sequentially to Rs 4.85 per km.  

Fuel cost jumped 74% year-on-year but declined 3% as compared with the previous quarter to Rs 5,613 crore.

Shares of IndiGo's parent company ended 1.5% lower before the results were announced, as compared with a 0.3% fall in the benchmark Nifty 50.