 "Lanco")
Improved prospects at its power plants and a fourfold sequential jump in EPC revenues helped Lanco Infratech return to profits after a gap of three years. The turnaround announcement came along with the company saying it will enter solar manufacturing in its special economic zone (SEZ) at Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh.
Gross revenue for the quarter ended September 30, 2015 (before elimination of revenue) increased by 43% to Rs 3,493 crore from Rs 2,444 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The company posted profit of Rs 99 crore for the quarter compared to the loss of Rs 528 crore in the same period last fiscal.
The EPC order book stood at Rs 24,355 crore; including solar projects, it reached Rs 27,722 crore. The financial closure of the cost overrun proposals of some of its power projects will enable the execution of majority of this order book within the next three years.
At present, the group’s operating assets have been impacted on account of factors such as short supply of coal and gas, pending tariff clarity and delayed payments from the customers. The average plant load factor of all its power plants stood at 59%.
The group, which has Rs 1,845 crore in receivables from various state power companies and other customers, has maturities of long term borrowings of Rs 1, 658 crore. Based on internal assessment and various discussions with the customers, the management is confident of recovery of receivables.
The approved corporate debt restructuring (CDR) scheme and additional funding to the company and recent lenders’ approvals of cost overrun proposals for projects under construction, along with efforts to bring in strategic investors and disposal of assets will also generate additional cash flows, the company said in a statement.
Under a memorandum of understanding signed with the Chhattisgarh Government today, Lanco Infratech’s subsidiary Lanco Solar Private Limited will set up 100 MW solar cell manufacturing plant. For the integrated solar PV manufacturing project which re-started in July 2015, LITL has already done an investment of Rs 1,200 crore to manufacture Poly-Silicon Refining and Wafer Plant and 150 MW module plant. The Project is being set up at a 250 acre SEZ location in Rajnandgaon under the National Solar Mission objective of achieving domestic PV cell production of 2200 mw annually.
Besides, Lanco Kondapalli Power Limited (LKPL) one of the step down subsidiary of the company, took into account revenue of Rs 175 after an order of the Supreme Court of India dismissing the appeals filed by Andhra Pradesh Power Coordination Committee and Andhra Pradesh Discoms. The court upheld the orders of APTEL and APERC which has granted the MAT reimbursement as part of tariff for the financial years 2001 to 2012 as per the power purchase agreement terms to LKPL.
