Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to GMR Airports Infrastructure Limited conference call to discuss Q1 FY 2025 results. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. We have with us today Mr. Saurabh Chawla, Executive Director, Finance and Strategy, along with the other top management. Before we begin, I would like to state that some of the statements made in today's discussion may be forward-looking in nature and may involve risk and uncertainty. Also, recording or transcribing of this call without prior permit, permission of the management is strictly prohibited. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Saurabh Chawla for the opening remark. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, and good evening, everyone. I welcome our shareholders, analysts, and other stakeholders to our Q1 Fiscal 2025 earnings call. This is a momentous moment for us because now our merger has got completed, and this is the first earnings call of our merged entity, GMR Airports Infrastructure Limited. As we navigate into fiscal year 2025, we are seeing a lot of optimism in the travel sector, as also within the company. Various global institutions, including the World Bank, have stated that India will remain the fastest growing world's largest economy. Even RBI has projected a GDP growth of 7.2% in fiscal year 2025. One of the articles published by a business site said India's travel retail market is expected to grow at a CAGR of almost 21.6% during the period 2024 to 2029.
To cater to the expected demand, the new Civil Aviation Minister has assured that the build-pace of building aviation infrastructure, including creation of new airports, will be accelerated. The National Stock Exchange has also recently launched the Nifty India Tourism Index. GMR Airports is a part of that index with a weightage of 14.8% currently, the third highest within that portfolio. The focus area of all the stakeholders remains on establishing India as a hub. Let me give you some data points to ponder. More Indian passengers are booking nonstop flights than earlier. 57% of the total passengers in 2023 flew point to point, compared to 53% in 2019, as per data from OAG. Data from India's Central Bank show that Indian travelers reached a new peak in overseas spending of about almost $31.7 billion in 2024.
$17 billion was spent on international travel alone, a 25% increase from the previous year. According to the CEO of the SriLankan Airlines, an increasing number of passengers from Europe to Sri Lanka are choosing to transit through Indian airports rather than the traditional West Asian hubs. Transit traffic from Europe to India to Colombo has tripled since COVID-19 pandemic. India is now the fastest growing long-haul market for Melbourne Airport, its CEO said. Melbourne Airport has grown direct services to India in the last 12 months by 330%. However, even with the growth of direct connectivity to India, 70% of the traffic between India and Australia still goes through connecting hubs like Singapore. At Delhi Airport, we have launched several initiatives to aid international travelers.
For instance, Air India has tie-ups with Delhi Airport to facilitate check-in for international passengers at two select Delhi metro stations, which is Shivaji Stadium and New Delhi, Rajiv Chowk. To make immigration process easier, biometric tie-up kiosks are operational at Delhi Airport. These and several other initiatives will ensure that more time is available to explore the airport and enhance the travel experience for the passengers. On that note, let me delve deeper into the Q1 fiscal 2025 performance. Momentum and total income continued with Q1 fiscal 2025 at INR 25.2 billion, which is up by 19% year-on-year, driven by traffic growth, translating into an EBITDA growth of 18% year-on-year to INR 10.2 billion. EBITDA margin for the quarter was 52% in quarter one fiscal year 2025 versus 48% in Q4 fiscal 2024.
Higher finance costs and depreciation rising post-completion of expansion of Delhi and Hyderabad airports lead to GMR Airports reporting a loss from the continuing operations of INR 3.4 billion. Consolidated net debt, excluding the FCCBs of INR 25.3 billion, stood at INR 280 billion, increasing by about INR 9 billion versus in Q4 fiscal 2024. This was mainly driven by combination of borrowings raised at Bhogapuram Airport and payment of balanced capital expenditures at Delhi, partly offset by repayment of foreign currency notes at Hyderabad. On the operational front, we continue to see growth in traffic. That is 7% year-on-year growth in quarter one, reaching 31.8 million passengers. International passenger traffic share for the quarter was at 23%. Regarding specific airports, during quarter one, passenger traffic at Delhi rose 7.7, 7%, 7% year-on-year to 19.3 million passengers.
At Hyderabad, the traffic was up 10% year-on-year to about 6.8 million passengers. Both the airports handled the highest number of quarterly passengers ever in the quarter one. Goa traffic rose 19% year-on-year to 1.15 million passengers. Total income of Delhi Airport rose 7.5% year-on-year to INR 12.9 billion, driven by traffic growth, with EBITDA up 3.8% year-on-year to about INR 3.9 billion. At Hyderabad, total income was INR 5.8 billion, up 21.4% year-on-year, with a growth driven by both traffic and slight increase in the Aero tariffs for fiscal year 2025. EBITDA was up 11% year-on-year to INR 3.6 billion.
Mopa, which is Goa Airport, reported a total income of INR 946 million, an increase of 121% year-on-year on a lower base, strong traffic growth, and new tariffs applicable from January 2024. The airport continues to report a positive EBITDA in its initial years of operation, with Q1 at about INR 397 billion. Notable achievements during the quarter are the merger of GMR Airports with GMR Airports Infrastructure Limited is now complete. Corporate structure of GMR Airports Infrastructure Limited is now streamlined, and airport assets have moved closer to the GIL shareholders. The enhanced corporate governance, with an expanded board and a strong balance sheet, has enabled GMR Airports Infrastructure Limited to be future-ready. GMR promoters continue to remain as the single largest shareholder, retaining management control over GMR Airports Limited.
Shares allotted to Groupe ADP in lieu of this merger are now trading on the stock exchanges. Delhi Airport, during this quarter, submitted the tariff proposal for the fourth control period. That is for a period from first April 2024 to thirty-first March 2029. In addition to this, there was an unfortunate incident at Terminal 1 at Delhi Airport. I would like to highlight that the swift response by Delhi teams ensured that the business operations had minimal impact on revenues and passengers do not face challenges. There was no shortage of staff to service the passengers and our concessionaires during this transition period. Progress on foraying into airport adjacencies businesses continued. At Hyderabad Airport, all retail outlets are now being operated by GMR Airports Infrastructure Limited. Letter of intent has been issued to some luxury brands, the luxury zone at the domestic terminal.
Car park business that was awarded to GMR Airports Infrastructure Limited has been operationalized this month. For F&B, GMR Hospitality Limited has opened up 5 outlets during this quarter and is expected to open many more or actually more than 30 outlets during this quarter, too. At Hyderabad Airport, a new last-minute duty-free shopping store has also been opened, which provides an additional facility for passengers to shop. Also, transit lounge commenced commercial operations in June 2024. At Goa Airport, duty-free further strengthened its product portfolio by introducing watches and cosmetic categories. Rolling tobacco was also introduced at the arrival store. Car parking system has been operationalized in July 2024. I'm also happy to announce that as of July, 100% of physical work has been completed for the expansion of Delhi and Hyderabad, with operations at Delhi's new terminal slated to start shortly.
As a matter of fact, as we speak, a release has already gone into the marketplace where, I think on, on—
Sixteenth night.
Sixteenth night, the Terminal 1 will restart its operations.
New terminal.
The new Terminal 1. At Bhogapuram, about 54% of physical progress is complete as of July, while at Mopa, Goa, 91.5% of expansion is complete. At Greece, about 37.5% progress has been achieved as of July. All GMR airports are among the top 100 global airports as per Skytrax ranking. Delhi retaining a rank of 36, and it is the only Indian airport in top 50. Hyderabad securing 61st position, and our newly operational Goa Airport getting 92nd position. Skytrax awarded Delhi Airport the best airport in India and South Asia award for the 6th consecutive year, while Hyderabad Airport was adjudged the best airport staff in India and South Asia. At GMR, we recognize that our success is deeply linked to the well-being of our planet and its people.
That's why we are committed to integrating ESG principles into every aspect of our business. Our goal is to create a better future for all our stakeholders. ESG score at both Delhi and Hyderabad airports was maintained at 5 for quarter one and at Goa at 4.92. CSR spend for quarter one totaled about INR 25 million, with total beneficiaries of over 140,000 persons, and more than 90% being from vulnerable and marginalized groups. Delhi, Hyderabad and Goa airports keep launching several initiatives and have received awards and recognition for the same, acknowledging the group's efforts on the ESG front. Both Delhi and Hyderabad airports are targeting net zero by 2030, and are rated at level 4+ transition by ACI.
With various initiatives on the ESG front, we have been making steady progress on ESG ratings by various agencies, including S&P Global, MSCI and Sustainalytics, et cetera. The presentation with all financial numbers are already available to you. If not, you can download it from the IR section of our website. We are available to respond to your questions on this call and offline after the call. Now, I would like to open the forum for queries, which will be addressed by my colleagues from the corporate and business teams. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Good, good evening, sir, and thanks for the opportunity.
Sorry to interrupt you, sir. May I request you to please use your handset?
I'm using handset. Is it better now?
Can you come near to the mic and speak, please?
Yes, yes, I am near the mic, sir. Hi.
Yes.
Yeah, good evening, sir, and thanks for the opportunity. My question is, given the merger has, I think, materialized in the—in this Q2, what is the total number of shares after the issuance to Groupe ADP? And, am I supposed to conclude that the OCRPS and FCCB, everything has been issued to the Groupe ADP? Is that a fair understanding?
No, I think, there's some misunderstanding. The FCCBs that were issued to ADP, Groupe ADP, a little more one year back, they continue to be FCCBs.
Mm-hmm.
Those have not been converted by FCCB by ADP. They will continue for a period of five years from the date of issuance, minimum period of five years from the date of issuance. So there's no conversion from that aspect, and hence, the equity stack will not change.
So the number of shares outstanding should be around 10 billion, 10.5 billion shares, right? And there is a 2.6 billion of OCRPS. Is my number correct?
Correct.
Yeah. Understood, sir. So second question is on the TDSAT order you received a few months back. Is the order still being contested or have you received final finality?
With regard to Delhi TDSAT orders?
Yeah.
No, the appeal has already been filed before the Supreme Court by the stakeholders, but the court has not given any take on it, so that the hearing is yet to take place.
What is your expectation of when you will receive the Delhi tariff order?
Delhi tariff order, we have filed application, including the TDSAT benefits, and also the Supreme Court benefits. Both together, we have already filed application.
My question is, when do you expect the Delhi tariff order to be in effect? Based on-
We are expecting, because the SBI Capital has already been appointed for this purpose by the regulator. The work is going on closely. Regulator has already asked SBA to complete the entire work within six months. So we are expecting the latest by December, otherwise the last quarter. So the order will be effective from first April 2024, while the order will come in the last quarter of fiscal 2024.
Yes.
The last quarter.
Fiscal 2025, sir.
Fiscal 2025. Yeah. Sorry.
Understood, sir. So, okay. Understood. Thank you all of you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kartik Chellappa from Indus Capital Advisors Limited. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity, sir. Am I audible?
Sir, may I request you to please use your handset?
Yeah. Is this any better? Am I audible?
No, sir, you're-—
Yeah, it's little better, but please carry on. Yeah.
Okay, great. Thank you, sir, for the opportunity. I just two questions, one on Delhi Airport and one on Hyderabad. On Delhi, if I were to look at our financials this quarter, so we have about a 7% passenger growth, against which we've had at about 9%-10% Non-aero growth and a 4% EBITDA growth. I'm just curious to see that our Non-aero revenue per pax is probably trending at about 2%-3%, and our EBITDA per pax is actually down year-on-year. What would explain this weakness, and when do you think we can start to see, you know, some non-linearity in this growth, where, you know, your EBITDA is actually growing faster than revenue? That's my first question, sir.
Just one second.
Sure.
See, we are under Base Airport Charges as far as the Delhi Airport is concerned. So you will able to see the benefit of increase in EBITDA only when the tariffs are implemented, which we are expecting by the last quarter of this fiscal year, FY 2025.
Okay. The Aero part of it is clear to me, sir. When I look at the Non-aero revenue, that for, on a per pax basis, is rising only 2%-3%, and that, I think, is also contributing some to the slow EBITDA growth. So I'm just trying to see when do you think the Non-aero revenue per pax can grow faster and which can probably translate into faster EBITDA growth. That's basically the angle where I'm coming from.
Yeah. I mean, when you look at the Non-aero per pax revenue, what it takes into consideration is the inflationary impact as well as, you know, improved spend. So it can vary anything between 3% upwards or so. When you really look at this particular quarter's number, it will have a combination of few things. Q1 is not really the best quarter. Q4 is the quarter where you have the maximum revenue coming in, both from the Aero as well as Non-aero point of view. And there could be other contributing factors like spend in duty-free and all that. But in isolation, if you look at 3% growth in Non-aero spend per pax is not a bad number, I would like to say.
But yeah, we have been doing better than that, and that's the endeavor to, by increased offerings and increased space, you will, you should see increasingly this spend should go up.
Yeah. So I think, you know, you need to take into account the seasonality. The first quarter of a fiscal year, which is your April to June, is usually lower than the last quarter of Q4 of the previous fiscal year. So, the momentum continues to be there. I think, the real measure of it, will be as we go forward, you will see the trend lines reappear on the growth on the Non-aero side.
Another point is that Terminal 1, which is now built for 40 million capacity, is getting opened up now. Then you will see a real increase in Non-aeronautical revenue, maybe in third quarter and fourth quarter.
Okay, got it. Thank you very much, sir. My second question is again on Hyderabad. What I noticed is that we've had a very strong Aero revenue as well as Non-aero revenue. So on a per pax basis, that is also for Aero, it is almost a double digit, and for Non-aero, it's up about 7% or on a per pax basis. But despite that, the EBITDA is actually lower, which means the OpEx is actually pretty high. So what is contributing to the high OpEx to Hyderabad, and when do you think you can actually start to see EBITDA growth also in the region of our revenue growth?
See, in case of the Hyderabad, since the expanded terminal is almost three times bigger than the existing terminal, the costs are now started being incurred. And as far as the revenues are concerned, Aeronautical is, of course, in line with the tariffs which are already in place. Non-aeronautical revenue, now, almost all the new shops are getting opened up. We are expecting the entire work will be completed by only third quarter of this financial year. We will able to see a good jump in the Non-aeronautical revenue only in the fourth quarter.
Okay, got it. And just one follow-up, sir. As far as the old Terminal 1 was concerned, which was being shut, what is the update on that? When is that going to be opened, and is there any repercussions to us in terms of additional CapEx or maintenance CapEx to be spent?
There is no maintenance CapEx. The entire fallen, the canopy has already been removed, and that structure has been in place. Saurabh has already explained that we are starting the operations on 16th night with SpiceJet. Entire operation of SpiceJet will be operated from Terminal 1 from 17th August onwards, and IndiGo is moving on 2nd or 3rd September to the Terminal 1. It will be working with the same capacity what it was working earlier. However, the full capacity of Terminal 1 will be used maybe in the third or fourth quarter, once we complete the canopy work.
So it'll be a slow progression of full utilization of the space in that terminal, which has been created. But then because of the firework, there will be a slight delay in that expansion of throughput through that airport.
Basically, we are operating only one, the check-in island for the purpose of immediately starting the operations. So we will open the old Terminal 3 check-in islands over a period of time, maybe by third quarter of this financial year. And the traffic has not been impacted because when the event happened, the traffic was moved to Terminal 2 and Terminal 3. Now, going forward, the traffic will start moving back from Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 back to Terminal 1. So from a revenue perspective, there will be no, there is no impact.
Okay, got it. This is very clear. Thank you very much, sir. Wish you and the team all the very best for the remaining quarters. I'll come back in the queue for additional questions if it.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Prateek Kumar from Jefferies Group. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good evening, sir. A couple of questions. My first question is on the merger part of GAL and GIL and, like, simplification of the structure. So with Groupe ADP now coming directly as a listed company shareholder, does this change anything operationally for the business? And how are they particularly like, sort of looking forward to or like sort of contributing to travel retail opportunity development for the company?
So Pratik, honestly, nothing has changed. They were 49% equity holder of GMR Airports, which was a subsidiary of the listed co. Now they are just, they're gonna be 33% odd equity holder at the listed co. They had same number of board seats as the GMR family had, at the private entity level. They will have the same board seats, 5 both for GMR family nominees and ADP. They will have 5 nominees. So nothing has actually changed. It's a very smooth migration of just shareholding, from a private entity level to a public entity level. Obviously, the benefits are more from, you know, efficiency of a movement of earnings.
You know, once the entity starts or the airport entity start to declare dividend, that will allow the listed co to receive the dividend in a more tax-efficient form, use that cash flows for its own balance sheet purposes and also for growth. If you look at the numbers, Pratik, which, for example, Hyderabad Airport is now starting to throw, you know, the free cash generation of Hyderabad is very, very robust. And, obviously, you know, when Hyderabad is not in an expansion mode, they will be upstreaming those cash to its shareholders. Delhi, you know, once the new tariff order comes, we'll be able to give you a much better guidance.
But we are targeting, you know, free cash flow, equity generation in next three to four years at Delhi Airport also. It's such a large airport, and once it starts to throw cash, it's big amounts of cash which is there. So the whole idea is now very much a balance sheet focus, operational focus, generation of free cash flow equity, you know, developing it into a very strong platform for future opportunities that we may get as we go forward within India, and Asia. You know, that is what our focus is. And ADP, of course, brings its strengths in many aspects of airport development and operations.
They, what they were adding as contribution at the GMR Airports level, they are adding the same thing at the listed level, which is GMR Airports Infrastructure level.
Thank you. My next question is on your debt, like, at around INR 20 billion, the first quarter in net of FCCB. How do you see that panning out with the CapEx, which is lined up for Bhogapuram Airport over the next 12 months?
Bhogapuram Airport, now the construction is happening in full swing, and, as Saurabh has explained, we have almost touched 34% of the progress. In this current financial year, we are likely to spend about INR 12 billion-INR 13 billion on the CapEx.
So, our INR 28,000 crore net debt could move to, like, what number? Is it like a peak number, or is it that can move to, like, a INR 30,000 crore number?
Total debt of the group. Of course, Bhogapuram debt, as of today, what we have drawn is only about INR 700 crore. So if the total debt to be available is INR 3,215 crore, out of that, 700 only drawn, so another INR 2,500 crore will be added in the next two years.
Two years.
Correct. In the next two years. Obviously, the next, the other airports will also be paring down debt. There will be some,
Okay.
Repayments of the principal that would be happening. So the net debt level, I think, should peak in next 12-18 months, and then it should start to-
Fall in.
To start to fall.
Okay. And my question on international opportunities, the competition like recently been like sort of come across like bidding for 2 international airports in Kenya and Taiwan. So what do you like, I think, from that perspective, as a ADP consortium?
So I think we are responding to couple of these airports likely to be given on a nomination basis to particular competitors. So that's, well, no, I think that's part of the game. And when it comes to we focusing our opportunities, right now our focus is on Middle East. And more so, you know, where you can look at the asset-light opportunities, like you would know, we have submitted our bid for the Kuwait Airport Terminal 2. Likewise, we are also looking at Abha in Saudi. That's where we have submitted our request for qualification. So, while there's a large landscape and competition, yes, competition is there and competition will remain there. So we'll not take too much of what has gone to somebody on a nomination basis.
That's part of the game, I would say.
So Pratik, I, I think I will again allude to something I just stated earlier. We have enough on our plates. You know, we have today almost 100 million passengers throughput in our airports, both domestic and international. And we are growing at about 10%-15% every year. We are adding one or maybe two medium-sized airports in our portfolio. So our focus is more on our PNL, more on cash flow generation, and, and if within that focus we do get an opportunity which makes a compelling economic sense for our shareholders, we will surely not let it go begging. We will bid for those. But even if it doesn't come, for us, we are already adding two airports in our portfolio on an annual basis. That's the way we look at it.
Sorry, can you elaborate on the RFQs in Kuwait and Saudi? This is related to what asset-light contracts?
So, this Kuwait Terminal 2, you know, where we have as GMR infrastructure, we have put in our bid. So there are three bidders. We are awaiting the results. That's a asset-light bid for 10 years operations and management contract. And there are two other bidders. So that's, that's on Kuwait. Saudi, we have submitted our qualification, and the next process will take place as we go along in terms of RFP. But it's still in the early days, but these are the two places right now we are putting our focus on it.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ganeshram from Unifi Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Are you able to hear me clearly?
Yes, sir.
Yes, we can hear you. Yes.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Great, great. Prateek's already asked some of my questions, but maybe if I could just pose one on the CapEx and then just get back to the debt. On the CapEx, okay, Hyderabad, Delhi, mostly done, and on Goa, I remember you mentioning about INR 200 crore in the last quarter. Now, I'm just trying to see more on the Bhogapuram side of things, right? So we've done about 34%-35%, and we're expecting INR 12 billion-INR 13 billion at the year-end, right? So if you could just tell us, is this CapEx more of a front-loaded nature or how is it going to be, how straight across the, you know, timeline of the project? So that's probably the first question.
And then given the number of subsidiaries and airports that we have, right, so what would sort of be the maintenance CapEx on these assets once this airport expansion takes place?
As far as the Bhogapuram is concerned, we are drawing the debt as and when required only. We have already infused with INR 811 crore as equity.
Mm.
We have INR 800 crore equity already infused and INR 700 crore only drawn. We have been drawing very less amount as and when required only. It is not front-loaded. It is only spread over a period of two years.
Got it. And just on where you expect the maintenance CapEx to be on these assets once they're fully commissioned?
These are all. See, the expansion has been completed. Since we have hardly have any operational CapEx, it will be normally, operational CapEx will be in the range of about INR 1.5 billion-INR 2 billion in case of Delhi, and around INR 1.5 billion in case of Hyderabad.
Okay. That is very clear. Now, you did mention that you're expecting an, I mean, that to sort of peak out in the next 12-18 months, and your focus on the PNL and cash flows, I'm pretty sure is very well appreciated. So, just wanted to pass that feedback, and thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, you may press star and one to ask a question. As there are no further questions, I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Saurabh Chawla for closing comments.
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, everybody, for joining this first merged entity quarter earning call. The team is available to answer any further queries you may have, and you can reach them either on mobile or by email. We're happy to answer any further questions you may have. Thank you so much, and have a wonderful Independence Day tomorrow.
Thank you. On behalf of GMR Airports Infrastructure Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.