| TUESDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2016 COMPANIES 3

. < UKairtraffic DMartsetssight AirIndia Express mulls entityinterested innavigation on~2,000-crIPO domestic operations services Appoints former Sebi chief C B Bhave on board RAGHAVENDRA KAMATH It will add four aircraft by December 2017, including two this year ARINDAM MAJUMDER , 12 September New Delhi, 12 September D Mart, the retail chain owned UK’s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) is by prominent stock market willing to be a stakeholder in ’s Air investor R K Damani, is look- Navigation Services ,which the government ing to raise up to ~2,000 crore is planning to hive off as part of the aviation though an Initial Public Offer ministry’s restructuring plan to set up a spe- (IPO) of its equity shares. cialist entity for this. It will be the first such Niall Greenwood, the Asia-Pacific man- in the sector after Vishal aging director for NATS, said India was the Retail hit the capital market world’s fastest growing aviation market. in 2007. “We’d like to be part of the operation. The D Mart’s parent, Avenue strength will be in collaborating with an Supermarts, the third largest Indian business that will be interested in the in the sector after Reliance service. We will be interested in some form of Retail and Kishore Biyani’s joint venture (with an Indian company, pub- , has moved a lic or private sector), bringing in technology resolution to seek approval between February 2008 and inputs, and training services,” he told this for the issue from its share- February 2011. GROWTH CHART newspaper. The British government has 49 holders at the coming annu- Bhave is also a director Setup firststore in per cent in NATS; airlines and private entities al general meeting. with Mahindra & Mahindra 2002 in Mumbai form the joint ownership. It was one of the Avenue has also sought Financial Services and the The airline is evaluating whether to expand services to Southeast Asia, where it only connects Singapore and first ANS services to privatise. “We handle shareholders’ approval to bor- Indian Institute for Human Runs 110 outlets Kuala Lumpur at present Delhi-Teheran service is also under consideration BS FILE PHOTO around 60 flights per hour, a frequency of less row up to ~2,000 crore. Settlements. overall than a minute. We have particular experi- According to reports, the D Mart is one of the few Operations in ANEESH PHADNIS international, which could be served Southeast Asia, where it only con- ence in high-impact operations, especially in company has appointed four profit making grocery retail- Maharashtra, Gujarat, Mumbai, 12 September profitably. nects Singapore and Kuala Lumpur Indian airspace,” he said. investment bankers for the ers, known for low-priced Andhra Pradesh, “The consultant’s report is at present. A Delhi-Teheran service With 20 per cent annual growth, India IPO. Though the company products and a low-cost busi- Madhya Pradesh, ir India Express (AIE), the expected in three to six months,” is also under consideration. AIE has become the fastest growing aviation has not given any time frame, ness model. It set up its first no-frills brand of Air India, said chief executive officer K expects its capacity and operating market in the world, with cheaper fuel lead- reports indicate the IPO is store at Powai here in 2002 Karnataka, Telangana A Shyamsundar. revenue to increase 25 per cent in ing to affordable ticket prices. Anticipating likely to hit the market in the and now operates in 110 loca- and Chhattisgarh. is exploring a foray into the domestic market. Currently, AIE has 21 Boeing-737 2016-17. The net profit was ~362 crore a surge in traffic, Indian airlines have given second half of the next cal- tions across several states. Made profit of ~211 AIE currently serves migrant planes. It will add four aircraft by in FY16, its first annual profit since sizable aircraft orders, which when deliv- endar year. Rivals such as Spencer’s crore and clocked labour and business traffic between December 2017, including two this launch of operations a decade earli- ered will put more pressure on air traffic The company said it had Retail, Aditya Birla Retail, sales worth ~6450 India and West Asia. Its main bases year. Shyamsundar said the new air- er. In FY15, it made a loss of ~61 crore. services. IndiGo and GoAir have 430 and appointed C B Bhave, former Shoppers Stop-owned Hyp- crore in FY2015 are in Kerala and it is preparing for craft would be used to expand serv- Profit was aided by the decline 144 of the Airbus A-320 on order. head of the Securities and ercity and Tata-owned Star expansion. That could include ices on the Gulf routes, especially in jet fuel cost and increase in rev- Air India plans to add 100 planes in the Exchange Board of India Bazaar, which either started Known for discounts flights on domestic routes. Kozhikode-Saudi Arabia and enue. “Our passenger revenue grew next three to four years. Jet Airways has (Sebi), as an independent operations or expansion after and no frills stores While the immediate focus is on -Saudi Arabia. Also, by end- by ~300 crore to ~2,917 crore, the ordered 75 planes and SpiceJet plans a siz- director on its board, with 2006, are yet to break even at Source: company, reports growing its business in established December, it will begin plying on the load factor was up one percentage able order. Among the new carriers, Vistara effect from May 17 for five the entity level. In 2014-15, D markets, it is hiring a consultant to Kolkata-Singapore and Delhi-Dhaka point to 82.3 per cent and we is going soon augment its fleet. years. Earlier with the Indian Mart reported a profit of ~211 50,000 sq ft each and plans to prepare a network plan and evaluate routes. The airline is also evaluating increased our fleet utilisation,” said Administrative Service, he crore and sales of ~6,450 crore. soon launch e-commerce all potential routes, domestic and whether to expand services to Shyamsundar. More on business-standard.com was chairman of Sebi It operates stores of 10,000 to operations. TataSteel’snetlosswidenstenfold ~3,183-crore loss was because of sale of UK-based long product unit; internal restructuring, competitive pound helped improve consolidated operating profit by 21%

ADITI DIVEKAR earnings before interest, taxes, depreci- Mumbai, 12 September ation and amortisation (Ebitda) or oper- ating profit, both at stand-alone and con- ’s consolidated net loss solidated levels. widened about 10 times to ~3,183 crore in “The group’s performance improved the quarter ended June (Q1), against a significantly across all geographies, ~317-crore loss in the corresponding peri- which reflected in the Ebitda. Also, od last year, according to the despite muted demand in the (From left) T V Narendran, MD, Tata Steel, Koushik Chatterjee, Executive Director new accounting standard Revenue fell domestic market, our India and group CFO, and Hans Fischer, MD & CEO, Tata Steel Europe at a press briefing Ind-AS. The loss was mainly to business saw improved to announce financial results in Mumbai, on Monday PHOTO: SURYAKANT NIWATE on account of divestment of 5.7% underlying Ebitda perform- its long steel products divi- ~26,406 cr ance and it is heartening to led to improved Ebitda especially in tial joint venture. “We cannot make any sion in the UK. against mention that Kalinganagar Europe,” Chatterjee said. definitive disclosures at present, but we According to ~28,025 cr start-up is pro- The company will need to carry out a are in talks with all stakeholders to find Bloomberg esti- in the year-ago gressing as per painful internal restructuring to make a sustainable solution for UK operations,” mates, the country's plan,” Koushik Chat- operations sustainable in Europe, said said Chatterjee. period largest steel producer was terjee, group executive direc- the management. Tata Steel's net profit fr- Meanwhile, the management also expected to garner a profit of ~375 tor (finance and corporate), told om continuing operations (excluding the said competitiveness and sustainabili- crore in the period under review and reporters at the earnings conference long steel unit of UK) stood at ~172 crore in ty of all its facilities in Europe would be churn a top line of ~28,468 crore in the held here on Monday. The domestic busi- Q1 against ~22 crore a year ago. Further, of priority while it discusses with quarter. The company's revenue stood at ness reported an operating profit of the total comprehensive income, which industry players. In the domestic mar- ~26,406 crore in Q1, down 5.7 per cent ~2,236 crore, up 17 per cent from a year also includes other comprehensive ket, Kalinganagar has set an export target from last year, as steel deliveries took a hit ago, while consolidated operating profit income of ~350 crore, narrowed the loss to of 0.5 million tonnes (mt) for the current in some European markets even as the jumped 21 per cent on a year-on-year (y- ~2,833 crore in the quarter, but remained financial year (FY17) and has plans to domestic market remained flat, despite o-y) basis to ~3,270 crore. 29 per cent higher than a year ago. make the entire 3 mt capacity opera- planned shutdown during the quarter. “Significantly competitive pound, Regarding the UK business, Tata Steel tional next year. Though the top line and bottom line better product mix and internal restruc- said it continues to explore options for a were dismal, Tata Steel saw improved turing, which helped us in cost saving, strategic collaboration through a poten- More on business-standard.com Reliance Power Centurymaymergetextiles logs 12% rise bizwithAditya BirlaFashion in net profit DEV CHATTERJEE corroded its profit after tax, which fell Mumbai, 12 September STORYIN NUMBERS from ~237 crore in FY11 to a loss of AMRITHA PILLAY CenturyTextiles & Industries ~54.5 crore in FY16 (see table). Besides, Mumbai, 12 September Century Textiles and Industries, once due to falling demand and pressure a star among Indian investors, is look- In ~ crore on selling prices of cement, the finan- Reliance Power Ltd reported a 12 per cent rise ing to demerge its textile business. It FY15 FY16 cial performance of cement units has in its net profit for the April-June quarter on may merge it with Aditya Birla Revenue from operations also suffered. “Going by the pressure better operational performance and lower Fashion & Retail (ABFRL) to bring the on financial metrics, a restructuring or expenses. For the period, the company report- entire textile and fashion business of Textile 1,744.3 1,817.2 outright sale of some businesses is ed a consolidated net profit of ~340.04 crore, the under one roof. Cement 4,127.2 4,253.5 only a matter of time,” said an ana- 12 per cent higher from ~302.64 crore of the In the past one year, ABFRL itself Pulp and paper 1,738.2 1,966.2 lyst. In the textile business, Century corresponding quarter, a year ago. For the has undergone major restructuring has two revenue streams: cotton fabric same period, net sales remained almost flat at under which the fashion business of Real estate20.4 35.8 and denim units that can be integrat- ~2,360.23 crore against ~2,341.64 crore report- Aditya Birla Nuvo — comprising Others 117.2 111.0 ed with ABFRL’s businesses. The com- ed a year ago. Madura Garments — was merged with pany has a vertically integrated plant The company’s financial performance for the company, making it the largest Profit/loss before interest & tax at Bharuch for manufacturing cotton the June ended quarter was above the Street fashion retail player, with consolidat- Textile 108.2 136.3 fabrics. The cotton division of Century expectations. In a Bloomberg poll, seven ana- ed revenues of ~12,000 crore. is one of the oldest players in India lysts estimated consolidated revenue of Century earned about ~1,817 crore, Cement 273.5 166.8 and manufactures a wide range of pre- ~2,857.2 crore and six analysts estimated a net or 8.6 per cent of total revenues, from Pulp and paper 78.0 191.8 mium textiles and supplies to many income of ~328.6 crore. its fabrics and denim business and is Real estate1.8 12.3 international players, including The company’s expenses for the June end- a supplier to ABFRL. Analysts said, Royale Linen, Ralph Lauren, DKNY, ed quarter fell three per cent to ~1,683.4 crore with a new management led by Birla Others 11.7 9.7 Belk and US Polo. from ~1,729.35 crore reported in the same peri- Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Interest exp484.6 567.7 Century Textiles was also in the od a year ago. Tax expenses for the company Birla now taking charge, a restructur- Otherun-allocable news last year when it was reported was almost half at ~78.52 crore from ing of its businesses is now inevitable. Expenditure -24.2 -29.6 the company would merge its cement ~132.54 crore spent a year ago. Earnings before After raising their stake through a pref- division of 14 million tonnes per Net profit/loss interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation erential offer, the Birlas have consoli- -33.7 -80.5 annum with Aditya Birla Group’s was at ~1,142 crore. About its operations, the dated their grip over the company by Before tax UltraTech. But with UltraTech invest- company said, plant load factor (PLF) for its inducting Rajshree Birla on the board Net profit/loss 15.5 -54.5 ing close to ~20,000 crore to acquire Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project was at 92.6 per of Century Textiles Source Capitaline Jaypee’s cement capacity announced cent, Rosa and Butibori power plant at 103 in May last year. Kumar Mangalam Compiled by BS Research Burerau in March this year, the Century per cent. This was higher than the all India Birla is vice-chairman of the company, cement merger plan has been put on PLF of 54 per cent for July 2016, according to even as present chairman the back burner. Analysts said follow- data available with Central Electricity B K Birla is unable to look after the Century’s textile business. ing the takeover of Jaypee units, any Authority (CEA). At present, Reliance Power day-to-day affairs of the group due to Analysts said Century Textiles’ merger of Century’s cement business operates a total power generation capacity of failing health. financial metrics have declined, main- with UltraTech could trigger sale of 5,945 megawatts in India. Reliance Power When contacted, an Aditya Birla ly due to its high debt, which shot up the new entity under anti-competi- closed at ~51.50 per share, 3.74 per cent down Group spokesperson denied any from ~2,621 crore in FY11 to ~5,320 tion laws. Hence, the Birlas would like from its previous close of ~53.50 per share. merger talks between ABFRL with crore in FY16. The interest costs have to keep both entities separate.