SpiceJet Clocks Highest Quarterly Profit On Capacity Growth
SpiceJet’s October-December profit grows 32% to Rs 240 crore.
Budget carrier SpiceJet Ltd.’s profit rose to its highest in the December ended quarter, beating street estimates, on the back of a strong capacity growth.
Net profit in the third quarter rose 32.5 percent from the year-ago period to Rs 240 crore, said the company in an exchange filing today. That’s much higher than Rs 180 crore estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.
This is the twelfth successive profitable quarter for the carrier, with the growth led by 14 percent year-on-year increase in capacity. Passenger yields—the revenue per available seat kilometer—rose 14 percent and passenger load factor averaged around 95 percent.
“This has been yet another great quarter for us and SpiceJet remains firmly on track on its long-term growth strategy,” said Chairman Ajay Singh. The carrier is the only airline to commence daily direct operations from Ahmedabad to Bangkok, and has the monopoly on many regional routes announced under the UDAN regional connectivity scheme, which aided profit growth.
On UDAN, the company secured additional 20 routes that will further increase its footprint in regional operations. Some of the exclusive routes awarded to SpiceJet include Delhi-Darbhanga, Mumbai-Darbhanga, Delhi-Pakyong,Chennai-Tanjore, Delhi-Kishangarh among others.Ajay Singh, Chairman, SpiceJet
The airline was partially impacted by a surge in aviation turbine fuel prices as crude oil rose 17 percent. There was also a 3 percent inflationary increase in the other costs.
Interest costs rose fourfold to Rs 32.16 crore as the company deposited Rs 250 crore and furnished a bank guarantee of Rs 330 crore on Sept. 14.
Other Key Highlights:
- Revenue up 27 percent to Rs 2,082 crore from last year.
- EBITDAR up 36 percent to Rs 568 crore from last year.
- EBITDAR margin expanded 185 basis points to 27.28 percent.