Spicejet crash lands

Spicejet seems to have hit a big air pocket and the turbulence it is facing today, might continue for some time. The stock is currently down almost 3.5% at Rs.14.40, with an intra day low at Rs.14. Its 52-week low is at Rs.12.50.

After the loss of its promoter, Dayanidhi Maran in the elections on Friday, this se of bad numbers come in, further depressing the stock. For FY14, the company posted its biggest ever net loss of Rs.1003 crore, which has jumped up 5 times over the FY13 net loss of Rs.191 crore. The company has blamed this poor performance on weak rupee and poor economic growth, which impacted demand. 75% of any airline company’s cost is affected by dollar due to the cost of fuel, thus a sharp rupee depreciation is bound to have an impact. Though the company’s net revenue had shown a rise of 12% at Rs.6351 crore, its 24% rise in expenses at Rs.7304 crore and then the increased interest cost dented the profits. What is pertinent to note is that this shocking loss was despite a 5% increase in the average air fare to Rs.4,253 from Rs.4,052 during the fiscal. Clearly, costs outstripped everything else.

The company ended Q4FY14 with an increased net loss at Rs.322 crore, up from Rs.186 crore in previous Q4and loss of Rs.173 crore in Q3.