GMR Airports'' Q2 Loss Widens to Rs 429 Crore

New Delhi, Oct 24 (PTI) GMR Airports Ltd (GAL) on Thursday reported a narrowing of its loss to Rs 429 crore for the three months ended September.

The company's total comprehensive income in the year-ago period stood at Rs 190 crore, according to a release.

These are losses after tax from continuing operations.

GMR Airports said the total income from continuing operations rose to Rs 2,598 crore from Rs 2,162 crore in the same period a year ago.

During the latest September quarter, the company's interest and finance charges rose to Rs 1,031 crore. In the year-ago period, it stood at Rs 673 crore.

The company holds the airport business of the GMR Group.

Currently, the group operates airports in Delhi, Hyderabad, Goa, Indonesia and the Philippines. It is also developing a few other airports.

While mentioning various major developments, the release said the GMR promoter group executed an agreement with a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) for securing Rs 6,300 crore in structured debt funding instruments. The pact was signed on October 23.

"Proceeds from this transaction will be used to refinance all 'Loan Against Shares' of the GMR promoter group, thereby consolidating multiple lenders into a single source of long-term capital.

"This will lead to a significant reduction in the pledge of GMR promoter group shareholding in GAL along with mitigating both refinancing and settlement risk," the release said.

Shares of GMR Airports Infrastructure rose marginally to close at Rs 82.55 apiece on the BSE.