Jet Airways Numbers Drop In March 2013 Quarter

Jet Airways has announced its Q4FY13 numbers, wherein it posted losses of Rs 495.53 crore. The company's consolidated revenues for Q4FY13 stood at Rs 4484 crore, dropping over 3% from that of Rs 4634 seen in Q4FY12. The company posted a loss of Rs 241.5 crore as EBITDAR (Earnings Before Interest Tax Depreciation and Rentals) in Q4FY13 against a profit of Rs 4.5 crore during Q4FY12. During the quarter, the number of passengers carried also decreased by 13.6% to 5.21 million from 6.03 million in Q4FY12.

For FY2013 as a whole, the company posted revenues of Rs 19080 crore on a consolidated basis, a growth of 12.9% over that in the last year. The number of passengers carried dipped for the fiscal too, decreasing over 6% to 20.7 million. The EBITDAR for the year stood at Rs 2199.4 crore, which makes for an EBITDAR margin of 11.7%.

Jet’s operating results for the quarter were hit by high fuel prices, the rupee depreciation and an increase in the cost of operations. There was a temporary slowdown in the industry during the last quarter, which resulted in capacity reduction. The result also includes one-time exceptional items amounting Rs 310.2 crore, mainly due to maintenance events, payroll arrears, SFIS reversal on account of expiry of license and losses on exchange fluctuation.

The aviation industry has already been battling sluggish market demand for the last few years. Keeping in mind the continued bad performance of the company as well as the industry, we suggest that investors stay away from this stock.