JP Associates painted deep red

Jaiprakash Associates is painted a deep hue of red today. The stock opened lower and is currently almost 4% down at Rs.31 levels.

The market is very disappointed with the company Q2FY15 performance wherein it posted a net los of Rs.106 crore compared to a profit of Rs.68 crore in previous Q2 and much higher than Q1 loss of Rs.81 crore. Apart from the gargantuan interest outgo, the company’s topline for the quarter, total income fell 15% (YoY) at Rs.2691 crore. EBITDA was down 14% at Rs.785 crore but at least it was in the black! After that came the interest charges at Rs.793 crore and that pushed the company into the red. YoY, interest cost has risen 21% and eats away over 29% of the topline and operating expenses is at 80%. There was a tax write back of Rs.92 crore or else the net loss would have been at Rs.198 crore.