SpiceJet flies high, stock soars 13% on solid results

Shares of SpiceJet zoomed nearly 13 per cent on Friday after the company posted its first profit in seven quarters.

The stock surged 12.69 per cent to Rs 21.30 on BSE.

Coming out of the red after seven quarters, SpiceJet posted a Rs 22.51 crore (Rs 225.1 million) net profit in the January-March quarter, helped by a Rs 650-crore (Rs 6.5 billion) funding by a new promoter, renegotiated contracts with its vendors and provisioning for re-delivery expenses.

The airline had reported a net loss of Rs 321.50 crore (Rs 3.21 billion) in the fourth quarter of FY14.

SpiceJet has also for the first time reported profit in the fourth quarter of a fiscal since 2010.

The new promoter, Ajay Singh has so far infused Rs 650 crore (Rs 6.5 billion) in the carrier, chief financial officer of SpiceJet, Kiran Koteshwar said, whose appointment as the full-time CFO was approved by the airline board yesterday.

Despite profit, the airline's income from operations declined almost half to Rs 786.32 crore in the reporting quarter compared with Rs 1,573.75 crore (Rs 15.73 billion) a year earlier.

Image: A SpiceJet booking counter; Photograph: Reuters