Cox & Kings default on commercial paper stumps the Street and experts

Unsurprisingly, the share price has lost 83 per cent since its high in November last year, half the loss coming over the past week

The default by travel company Cox & Kings on its commercial paper (CP) has confounded the Street and sector experts.
 
On Wednesday, it had failed to pay the principal amount of Rs 150 crore on unsecured CP and said this was due to a cash flow mismatch. However, it was supposed to have been sitting on Rs 1,830 crore of cash at the end of 2018-19 (the financial year ended March 31).
 
In fact, it indicated it had sufficient liquidity only two weeks before the default. According to a recent note by CARE Ratings, at the time of