01. February 2007
Tata group picks up 6% stake in Spicejet
Date: 01. Feb. 2007
MUMBAI: Low-cost carrier Spicejet has allotted a total of 2.70 crore equity shares to Tata group company Ewart Investment and BNP Paribas Arbitrage Fund out of the proposed preferential issue of 7.20 crore equity shares.
Ewart Investments was allotted 1.4 crore shares, while BNP Paribas Arbitrage Fund received about 1.30 crore shares from the airline company, Spicejet informed the BSE.
A company official said the allotment to Ewart Investments represents 6 per cent stake in the carrier while that of BNP was 4.5 per cent.
The shares so allotted were issued at a price of Rs 52.69 per equity share, raising an amount close to Rs 143 crore.
Other investors apart from Tata Group and BNP Paribas, who also picked up significant stakes in Spicejet, are Ishtitmar, Telemnix, Goldman Sachs and UK's KBC Fund.
Spicejet had informed the Bombay Stock Exchange recently that it would offer equity shares on preferential basis to various foreign and domestic investors.
In December, it was planning to sell USD 80 million worth of shares on a preferential basis. The company had, however, received offers amounting to USD 118 million. Texas Pacific group, a leading global private investment which also wanted to invest in the carrier later withdrew the offer.
Spicejet's offering of shares on preferential basis was aimed at raising funds for non-aircraft capacity expansion purposes like, investment in engineering and strengthening call centres.
Shares of the company closed at Rs 58.65, down 0.42 per cent at the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Source: http://www.dnaindia.com
Fuel price cut to reduce 4% costs: SpiceJet
Date: 01. Feb. 2007
ATF prices are being cut by Rs 4000 per kilo litre. Commenting on the price cut, Ajay Singh, Director at SpiceJet states that the aviation industry may not pass on the fuel price cut to consumers. He further adds that the fuel price cut will reduce costs by 4%. Singh also says that they need to watch their competitors' move before cutting prices.
Excerpts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with Ajay Singh:
Q: With regard to the just announced cut in aviation fuel prices, how do you see this panning out for your company, will there be improvement in margins?
A: Certainly, this is a significant cut and fuel is the largest part of the aviation cost. So a cut of about 9-9.5% would mean a 4-4.5% difference in terms of overall aviation cost. So it is certainly a welcome move.
Q: Are you not seeing any of them passing it on and making those margins less likely to stay on your bottomline?
A: Given the history of this industry for the past year or so, because of capacity addition and competition, margins have been on the decline and airlines have been making losses, I would be surprised if the industry were to pass on these cuts at this stage. However, because of the competitive environment we have to see what others are going to do before we make up our mind. But quite clearly, the preference would be to not pass on this cut.
Q: Given this 4-4.5% benefit, how would you expect to revise your guidance for Q4 of this particular financial, in terms of what you might do on margin and profit?
A: SpiceJet is in a special circumstance; we had a truncated quarter. We are aligning our financial year to March this year. So we have to see what the impact is going to be but there is certainly going to be a positive impact.
Q: Overall as a percentage of sales, how much do you expect fuel prices to effectively come down by?
A: Given that we are close to EBITDA breakeven at this point of time, a 4% decline in cost would mean as a percentage of sales; roughly equivalent difference.
Source: http://www.moneycontrol.com
SpiceJet appoints Partha Basu as its new CFO
Date: 01. Feb 2007
NEW DELHI: Low-cost carrier SpiceJet on Thursday said it has appointed Partha Sarthi Basu as its new Chief Financial Officer.
Basu would help in setting professional standards in all financial affairs and incorporate procedures with his immense corporate expertise, SpiceJet said in a statement.
"With his strong credentials and rich experience, Basu is a valuable addition to SpiceJet," SpiceJet Director Ajay Singh said in the statement.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
Spicejet allots equity shares
Date: 01. Feb. 2007
Spicejet has announced that it has allotted 27,072,430 equity shares out of the proposed preferential issue of 72,000,000 equity shares at a price of Rs 52.69 per equity share, on Feb. 01, 2007.
Out the total 27,072,430 shares allotted, Ewart Investment was allotted 14,000,000 equity shares and BNP Paribas Arbitrage Fund was allotted 13,072,430 equity shares.
Recently, the company announced its plans to connect Kolkata to Hyderabad and also start an additional flight to Bangalore.
The newly inducted Boeing 737-800 aircraft on the Kolkata-Bangalore-Hyderabad route would serve this purpose from Feb. 4.
The airline also has plans to introduce a flight to Port Blair by end-June, as part of its expansion in the east and north east. The airline is also looking at connecting Agartala, Bagdogra and Dibrugarh, sources said.
With the introduction of these flights, the airline`s daily flights from Kolkata will increase to 16 flights daily by the end of June this year, from the previous 8 flights. SpiceJet is already operating on the Delhi, Chennai, Guwahati and Bangalore sectors.
SpiceJet will increase its operations from 85 flights a day by 11 aircraft now, to 250 flights a day by 26 aircraft by end-December 2008.
The shares of the company closed at Rs 58.65, down Rs 0.25, or 0.42% at BSE. Total volumes of shares traded were 1,221,149. (Thursday).
Source: http://www.myiris.com
