GMR AIRPORTS LIMITED

FY2025 Q4

2025-05-23 Transcript PDF
Moderator

The first question comes from the line of Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.

ICICI Securities

Good evening, sir, and thanks for the opportunity. My first question is, sir, can you please explain the impact of Delhi tariff order expected on the annual revenues of DIAL?

Mohit, we do not give forward guidance on revenues. So the new tariff order we can talk specifics on that aspect of it.

GRK Babu

The current tariff was INR145 yield per pax. Now the revised tariff, which is now implemented from 16 April, 2025, is INR360 yield per pax. That means there is an increase of INR215 yield per pax. So, based on that, you can do the calculation. If it is 80 million passengers, it is about INR1,600 crores upside.

ICICI Securities

Understood, sir. My second question is on the depreciation and interest. Of course, the interest has seen a sharp increase, Y -o-Y and Q-o-Q. Is this 9-10 billion quarterly number we should work with for the F26? Is that a fair assumption?

GRK Babu

Increase in the interest cost and depreciation arising due to on capitalization, which has been completed in last year, this is on a yearly basis. This will be more or less the final depreciation and interest cost.

ICICI Securities

Is there scope for reduction in the interest cost as you go forward? This number looks to be sitting on the higher side?

GRK Babu

There will be some reduction in the interest cost because in the case of Delhi, there is one off about INR80 crores charged because of the cancellation of the hedges and that will not be there going forward. Further, since we have refinanced nearly INR2,500 crores in case of Delhi, from about 12% rate of interest to 9.5%. So, there will be some more savings. So, going forward, there will be some reduction in case of the interest cost.

ICICI Securities

Understood, sir. Thank you and all the best. Thank you.

Moderator

Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Karthik Chellappa from Indus Capital Advisors. Please go ahead.

Indus Capital Advisors

Good evening, sir. Thank you very much for the opportunity. Three questions from my side. The first question is, if I were to look at our CPD rental income for Delhi Airport against a run rate of about INR200 crores for several quarters, this quarter we h ave seen a sizable bump up to about INR383 crores. What has actually driven that and what is a steady state kind of CPD rental that we can actually expect going forward?

GRK Babu

Okay. This quarter, one of the assets which has been leased out in case of the CPD land, now all the CPs (conditions precedent) have been completed. Hence, IndAS 116 lease financing has kicked in. So, we have equalized all the MMGs which have been receivable over a period of next 46 years. As a result, there is a bump of about INR188 to INR190 crores this quarter. And going forwar d on a yearly basis, there will be an increase to the extent of about INR120 crores going forward.

Indus Capital Advisors

Okay. So, from here on, the steady state should be somewhere about INR3 to INR3.2 billion per quarter?

GRK Babu

No. INR120 crores increase going forward on a yearly basis.

Indus Capital Advisors

Okay. So, 1.2 billion increase on a yearly basis. Okay. Great. Thank you. My second question, sir, is now the FY26 will see the first year of the full effect of the new YPP. So, I don't mean it in the form of a guidance, but if I were to just do a basic math of keeping all other things equal, our aero revenues will now more than double. And if I keep our interest depreciation, everything constant, is it reasonable to assume that FY26 Delhi Airport should be able to break even?

I think that would again allude to guidance. I really don't want to give that forecast to you, but there is a significant improvement if you look at the Delhi Airport's P&L. And if you impute the numbers that you're articulating, I think the results will be quite obvious over there.

Indus Capital Advisors

Okay. Great. My last question, sir, is on Hyderabad Airport. What we have seen is this quarter, there has been a sequential softness in the EBITDA margins for the Hyderabad Airport. And the effective tax rate this quarter has also been very high, almost a bout 44%, 45%. So, could you please clarify what led to the sequential softness and also the effective tax rate?

Amit Jain

Karthik, if you adjust this with respect to other income, you will see an improvement in EBITDA margin is mainly because in Q4, the other income is lower compared to Q3. That's the main reason.

Indus Capital Advisors

Okay. Because even if I adjust the other income, even if I exclude it, there seems to be a reduction. So, that was why I was curious to see whether there was anything else apart from other income?

GRK Babu

Year-end expenses have been booked. Some of the expenses which have come around INR10 crores rupees extra, which has been accounted for. And as far as the tax is concerned, it is only in a book entry. And we actually take MAT credit back into the books. H yderabad Airport is not paying any taxes as of now.

Indus Capital Advisors

Got it. So, which means the steady state tax rate, I mean, it's not paying any taxes, but the steady state tax rate should continue to be about 33%, 34% then, right?

GRK Babu

No, this is actually what we have accounted for is only a MAT. It is not full tax. We are under MAT because we have carry-forward losses available under income tax.

Indus Capital Advisors

Okay, excellent. Just one follow -up, sir, if I may, to your earlier comments that you made at the beginning that the economic environment had been a bit volatile in the first two months because of the developments recently. Has that had any impact on your volumes or your forward bookings in the short term? And if yes, how long do you expect that to last, whether it is in Delhi or in Hyderabad?

Basically, you are talking about the India-Pakistan issue and the impact on the traffic. So, honestly, it's a very minimal impact on traffic. It was only certain airports in North India to be shut down during those operations, during those 7 - 10 days. Minimal impact with the size of operations at Delhi. Hyderabad almost no impact and now we see a comeback even in those jurisdictions.

Indus Capital Advisors

Excellent. Okay, that's it from my side, sir. Thank you very much and wish the management team all the very best for FY26.

Moderator

Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Prateek Kumar from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Jefferies

Hi, good evening, sir. I have a few questions. Firstly, on the CPD income jump. So, we are implying that our annual CPD income at Delhi will jump from around INR800 odd crores to INR920 - INR930 odd crores going forward annually. Is this the right assessment? Also, related question, what is the timeline of other Real Estate projects which are going to commission including Bharti Realty starting to give you lease rental and other projects including the destination mall which we are building in that location?

Prateek, I have here Aman Kapoor who heads our CPD business over here. So, he will guide you on developments in that business. Aman.

Aman Kapoor

So, with respect to Bharti, in the first phase of the 5 million square feet FAR that was granted, almost 55% will get ready and commissioned by third quarter of this calendar year. That has no impact on revenues for DIAL because there is no revenue share and the fixed land rentals are continuing to be paid. So, it has no necessarily an economic impact. With respect to the shopping center, it is expected in first quarter of 2028 to start operations. From this financial year onwards, the minimum guaranteed rent has kicked in and that will continue to be paid irrespective of whether the project is completed or not. So, that's what the straight lining which GRK Garu had highlighted, explained earlier.

Jefferies

And the Bharti Phase 2, when is that supposed to come in picture in terms of rentals, contribution to DIAL?

Well, they have a right to choose up until end of FY, I think it's the year 2027. They have a right to exercise that option.

Jefferies

So, from FY '28 onwards, we should probably render that number?

Yes, if they exercise that option. Correct. Then the rentals will start kicking in.

Jefferies

My other question was regarding Delhi duty-free. We have given this data on annual numbers for the big entities, duty-free, cargo, et cetera. That shows that EBITDA and PAT for the financial year '25 has INR340 crores and INR205 crores. That seems to be suggest a very small growth year -on- year, like basically compression of margins and almost a decline in PAT, while the top line thinks to be growing well. Why is that specifically?

GRK Babu

This is basically, if you look at it, FY'23-24 the duty-free was getting the refund of ITC on both arrival at departure stores. So, they got a benefit of about INR50 crores to INR60 crores. Whereas the government has withdrawn on arrival store and they are allowing only on departure store the ITC credit going forward from October 2023 onwards. As a result, if you compare '24 and versus '25, even though turnover has gone up, because of that ITC credit not available in FY '24-25, it has come down. So, it's just a 4% impact.

Jefferies

So, it's a sustained impact. So, is this below EBITDA or above EBITDA line item?

GRK Babu

That was above EBITDA line item.

Jefferies

So, your top line has grown 14%, EBITDA has grown 3% and PAT has declined by around 10% in FY '25 in this segment. So, that's why the question was there. So, I am not sure if it is completely explained. So, there are line items below EBITDA also which explains the PAT performance?

GRK Babu

Below EBITDA, there are no issues. So, below EBITDA is basically the last year profit versus this year profit. Profit has come down mainly because of the ITC refunds which they used to get. They used to put less cost in FY'23-'24, whereas 100% cost has been accounted for in FY'24-'25. That is the reason why at EBITDA level it has come down compared to FY'24-'25. And going forward that will be the final.

So, Prateek, your EBITDA margins in your duty -free business maybe about 15% to 17% going forward. Taking into account this one-time adjustment of withdrawal order from the government. This was as against 20% EBITDA margin earlier. So, from your modeling pe rspective, you should assume about 17% EBITDA margin.

Jefferies

Sure. And lastly on net debt, now touched INR31,400 crores in this quarter. How do you see net debt in FY '26 from here and what is the capex expectation in FY '26 for the overall operation?

GRK Babu

There will be an addition because the Bhogapuram construction is happening. If you look at it in this INR31,000 crores, the Bhogapuram is accounted for only INR1,400 crores, INR1,500 crores So, we will be drawing additional INR1,700 crores in this FY'25-'26. So, to that extent, the debt can go up further. And GAL level also we have raised INR400 crores in April and we may likely to raise another INR200 crores - 300 crores in this financial year. So, about INR700 crores also GAL level will go up. So, total about INR 1700 crores plus INR 700 crores so overall it can go up by INR2,400 crores.

Jefferies

This is the gross debt but net debt because your EBITDA cash accruals have also increased significantly because of tariff benefits in GAL. So, net debt can continue to go up or that may have peaked in FY '25?

Saurabh Chawla / GRK Babu

So, net debt will also go up slightly but not as much as the gross debt is because of the cash accruals, because of the enhanced tariff that we have now in place. Because DIAL will throw a good amount of cash because of implementation of the tariffs. So, that cash accrual will be there. Gross debt may go up by around INR2,500 crores but net debt may not go up that much.

Jefferies

Sure, I will get back to the queue. Thank you.

Moderator

The next question come from the line of Dario Maglione form BNP Paribas. Please go ahead

I have two, if I may. One is on the Noida Airport just outside Delhi. It should open in the next few months. So, are you seeing any impact on airline scheduled capacity for the New Delhi Airport? And question number two is on, actually, Group ADP, as you know the CEO has changed at the beginning of the year and on the full year results call, the CEO mentioned that one of the pillars of his strategy is to get basically dividends from international assets including GMR airports. However, he al so mentioned previously that there is a lot of opportunity to invest in India. So, within this context, when do you think that GMR airports will pay dividends? Thanks.

Yes, so on Jewar, honestly speaking, the opening of that airport is quite complementary to our Delhi Airport. Delhi Airport as you know we have expanded our capacity to about 100 million passengers. And there will be some, we would actually encourage some of the low yielding traffic and when I say low yielding traffic is, the ATRs and some domestic traffic, which does not spend too much at my airport to move over the next three to four years. It's not going to happen immediately. But next three to four years is what we expect that to happen, which is beneficial because my international airport, international traffic is growing quite robustly and that will release the capacity at the airport on the air side of it for the aircraft movements. So, it's very complementary for us that Jewar will open. The market itself is growing almost, 8% to 10% every year. There is enough for everybody. From a competitive scenario, Jewar Airport is almost, 70 -80 kilometers fro m centre of Delhi. So, purely from a distance perspective, it doesn't serve the main Delhi and Gurgaon clientele. Even Noida clientele, it doesn't service. It does service the greater Noida. And the catchment area for that is mostly Agra and Aligarh areas, which are from an economic standpoint a notch lower than the high yielding passenger traffic that we have from Delhi, Gurgaon and also other northern parts of India. So we expect that, as time goes by and over the next two to three years, as our capacity starts to reach about 100 million passengers, we expect some of the low yielding passengers to continue to move away from Delhi airport. And we concentrate on the high -yielding passengers, which are usually the international traffic of full-service airlines. So that's the strategy. In nutshell, Jewar is very complementary to our business model. And as we go forward, we will continue to work with airlines to facilitate, their slots over here at Delhi airport. I just want to highlight one aspect that airlines don't give up slots. Once they get hold of slots, they hold them very, very dearly. But yes, on the low yielding ones, we would encourage these airlines to move to Jewar. On ADP, I just want to again highlight, Philippe Pascal has taken over as the Chairman and Managing Director of ADP. Philippe was the CFO when we did the transaction in 2020. And he was one of the persons who negotiated with us. He fully understands the sp irit behind their investment in GMR airports. And so we have a very strong relationship with the current senior management. Many of them have also worked for a brief period of time at GMR airports here in New Delhi. So from a transition perspective, we don't expect any turbulence. There's total alignment of strategy and objectives between Groupe ADP and GMR as far as the GMR ai rports business is concerned. With respect to dividend outlook, we have always highlighted that we should be achieving, on a consolidated level at GAL, FCFE positive status by FY'28. And the prerogative of giving dividend, of course, is with the Board of Directors. I really can't speak for them. All I can highlight to you is that purely from a cash flow perspective, going forward from FY'28, GAL would be in a position to give dividends as it goes forward. So we will, of course, guide the markets as we reach that milestone. But that's what our thought process is, that GAL should be a dividend paying entity for its shareholders. As you woul d have seen during last fiscal year, Hyderabad Airport has already declared dividends which have come to GAL. With the new tariff order Delhi should also start giving dividends after three years. Hence, we believe that also by that time, the transition of the non-aero businesses into GAL would be mature enough. So enough cash flow generation would have started to happen at GAL, facilitating any outflow of dividends from FY'28 onwards, that's my, guidance.

Moderator

The next question comes from the line of Nidhi Shah from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.

ICICI Securities

Yes, so my first question is, now since the cancellation of the Celebi in Delhi, who is managing it? Is it DIAL or is it GAL? And what are the revenues and PAT for FY '25 and what can we expect for FY26?

Rajesh Arora

Yes. So this is being managed by GAL now in terms of concession being taken over by GAL. And in terms of the revenues for FY '25, they clocked about INR780 crores and with a PAT of INR 120 crores. For FY '26, this will be a forward -looking number. So maybe I'll, not talk about that, but you can assume reasonable growth over the numbers what I've just told you.

ICICI Securities

And the Delhi duty-free, could you disclose the revenues and PAT for FY '25 if I missed it earlier?

GRK Babu

Delhi duty-free FY '25 clocked a revenue of INR2,200 crores with a PAT of about INR210 crores.

ICICI Securities

And lastly, just at the Hyderabad airport duty-free, has that moved from GMR Hospitality and retail to GAL?

GRK Babu

Yes, it started moving into the GAL and full-fledged operations will be started by GAL from July 25.

ICICI Securities

All right. Thank you so much.

Moderator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Aditya Mongia from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.

Kotak Securities

My first question links to the (traffic) growth we've seen in recent months at the Delhi airport. It started becoming more like a 6% kind of trend. Could you give us a sense of why growth appears to be kind of slowing down in these months - March and April? Because I would want to assume that like Hyderabad, capacity is only expanding. And could you give us a sense of how to kind of then think through about growth happening in Delhi?

GRK Babu

In terms of the Delhi, I think March has clocked very well and April. Since the base is very high, Delhi always growth is between 5% to 6%, maximum 7%. When it comes to Hyderabad, the base is very low, which is about 24 million. It has achieved 29 million. The growth is 17%. And as far as the capacity is concerned, Hyderabad has been built for 34 millio n capacity. And it has closed with 29 million this financial year. Next year, we are expecting to touch about 32 to 33 million.

Kotak Securities

Essentially Delhi should be on the stable 5%-6% growth pattern here onwards given the high base

Yes, between 6% to 8% is the growth you can assume at Delhi airport, given the fact that today we are doing almost 80 million passengers. The base is so high.

Kotak Securities

Yes. So it's not a capacity issue right now, right? It's just the way the demand is panning out in recent months. And its getting slightly better?

Also, Aditya, capacity is already done. The airside capacity is fully completed. We don't have to put in any capex to increase the airside capacity. The airside capacity will only now increase due to technological improvements for better ATM management. It can go up to almost 140 million there. But for that, you have to continuously work with the regulator, which is DGCA, to improve the software and other equipment over there. On the city side is where we have 100 million terminal capacity as on date. We can sweat these assets to take it to about 120 million. And if we reach that level, it's good news for all of us. And if we need to put some capex to further enhance the terminal to balance the capacity, we will do it at that point of time. So now it's only a question of passenger throughput. And for that, the best guidance you will get, at least in the listed space, is from Indigo. And I think I read today there was some news reports of Indigo that almost 80 aircrafts which were grounded are coming back over the next 6 months with their Pratt & Whitney engine issues getting resolved. So as the aircraft supply increases, the supply side will get de-bottlenecked and obviously, Delhi being almost 30% to 40% market share in India, that will also flow through Delhi. And last but not the least, will have a positive impact on fares, which will again put some tailwind on the demand for flying.

Kotak Securities

Understood. That clarifies. The second question that I had was that, again, trying to kind of pick your brains up. You said 13% is a non -aero growth for the three aggregate assets in the fiscal and about I think 10% -ish is the growth in pax count. So it's about 1.3x that is happening in terms of growth and obviously inflation. It doesn't seem as if beyond inflation, any other meaningful factors that should be driving up performance, penetration, premiumization, so on and so forth, is helping us right now. How soon should we be expecting more than kind of a 3% differential in non -aero revenue growth versus the pax growth for the three assets that we have?

Rajesh Arora

Yes. Aditya, if you would have seen even in the past, our growth of SPP, which is growth over the normal traffic growth, has been in the range of about 5%. And that is like with the available space and all that. As we go forward, and you would have seen i n case of Hyderabad airport duty -free business, the SPP growth has been significant. This was with the expanded area with the new offerings. So our focus is on three counts. One, how do you get more space to cater to the additional offerings? Second, in our given space, how do you bring in premiumization? So what we are doing is like in Hyderabad, we are bringing in reach to luxury and luxury segment as part of our retail offering. Similarly, on the F&B side, we are bringing in Michelin star restaurants. So those are the steps which are being taken to bring in premiumization of the offerings, more space, and also basically bringing in the differential product offerings here. So that’s something that is now the focus and which will be driving our further growth beyond what you generally call it as an endurative growth for SPP.

Also Aditya, I think you need to take into account as the concession of the previous concessionaire was ending, obviously the focus was more on the transitioning aspect rather than on the growth aspect of it. As it comes back to GMR Airport fold, full eff orts will be there to put the necessary investments, both from area space perspective, brands perspective, to take it to a different level.

Kotak Securities

Understood. Third question that I had was on the part beyond the three airports in terms of revenues and EBITDA. And thank you so much for providing color in the presentation to the extent that you have. It's very helpful. The way I see through it, the additional EBITDA, the other three assets, is coming in from two buckets, one of which is very clear, the facilities of yours, the hotel, the duty -free in Hyderabad, parking in Delhi. The other half has been clubbed up inside GAL standalone as an EBITDA. And by the way, this is a fairly high EBITDA margin business that is getting clubbed up. Could you give us a sense of this bucket and what are the key drivers and how should we be taking to growth in this fairly large EBITDA item which is all clubbed up for now? Clarity would be useful.

GRK Babu

Basically, in case of the GAL, the revenues are, we put it in three buckets. One is basically the management fee and operator fee which we collect. The second one is the interest in come. The third one is the adjacency business non-aero, basically four verticals. One is the retail, other one is the cargo, third one is the car park, and fourth one is the duty -free. So now all those things have started showing in this current financial year in GAL, which are likely to grow substantially going forward, especially duty-free, where we are taking over the Delhi as well as Hyderabad duty -free, which will start operating from July 2025 onwards.

So, in a nutshell, I think what GRK Babu is highlighting to you is that this is mostly management fee, dividend earned from Hyderabad, and interest earned from loans extended towards subsidiaries. That's the component that today that bar represents. But as the transition happens of the non-aero businesses, this component as relative to the growth of the other component will slowly come down, and operating income will substantially go up.

Management

So, operating income in the FY '26 can go as much as more than INR2,200 crores.

Kotak Securities

From the existing INR800 crores, INR900 crores that is there, maybe in this bucket at this point of time. Now, I just wanted to kind of clarify, will you be adding in the next year, Delhi duty -free to GAL? You will be adding Delhi cargo to GAL?

GRK Babu

That's correct. Delhi duty-free, Hyderabad duty-free, both will be operated by GAL from July 2025. That's what I said, the current financial GAL has closed with a turnover of about INR1,200 crores, with EBITDA about INR600 crores, which will substantially go up the next financial year because of adding of the duty-free business. And EBITDA also will substantially go up.

Kotak Securities

And in this case, are you also counting in Delhi cargo and Hyderabad warehousing ventures? Will they be over and above INR2,200 crores?

Amit Jain

Aditya, sorry to intervene, there are two other participants also in the queue. I would request if you can come again in the queue.

Kotak Securities

Thank you so much for your response. Thank you.

Moderator

Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Karthik Chellappa from Indus Capital Advisors. Please go ahead.

GRK Babu

Yes, correct. You're absolutely right.

Indus Capital Advisors

Okay. So just one question on that. Number one is Bhogapuram is already 69% complete. In other words, almost more than two -thirds complete. And if I look at the net debt on Bhogapuram, it's already about 17 billion. But if we are borrowing another 17, it' s almost doubling the borrowing there for an additional 30%. So how do I reconcile that?

GRK Babu

No, the physical progress we are showing, but billing has not happened from the contractor. So we continue to pay them as and when the bills have been received. There will be always a lag to the extent of INR300 crores to INR400 crores in payment. It is n ot because we don't have the money, because they take more time to submit those , Number one. Number two, the total debt for Bhogapuram Airport itself is INR3,215 crores. That means we have raised about INR1,400 crores to INR1,500 crores. Another INR1,600 crores to INR1,700 crores we have to raise to complete the project. Complete and pay all the loans.

Indus Capital Advisors

Excellent. One last question, sir. On the holding company debt, where you're raising another 6 to 7 billion, what would that be employed for?

GRK Babu

Basically, about INR250 crores is the deposit which we have to give to DIAL for the duty -free business. We also have to make equity investment in case of Nagpur Airport to the extent of about INR200 crores. And we also have to make another INR110 crore rupees equity investment in case of Bhogapuram. And other small other requirements. All put together about INR6 - INR7 crores.

Indus Capital Advisors

Okay. Thank you very much for this detailed clarification, sir. That's all from my side.

Moderator

Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Prateek Kumar from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Jefferies

Yes, thanks for the opportunity again. I have just a couple of questions. Firstly, because of this Pakistan airspace ban and diversion of traffic routes because of that, has there been any instance of some airlines shifting traffic to maybe Mumbai? Or do you foresee that happening? And second question is, which is a different question, on regarding new concessions, like government has recently approved few new greenfield projects at Odisha, Kota and Chennai part 2. So how are we looking at these concessions coming up?

So typically, I'll just say that there is no movement of traffic from Delhi to other airports because of the airspace having got shut by Pakistan. And actually, most of the foreign airlines are now operating. They started to operate through Pakistan airspace. Indian owned airlines or Indian flag airlines are not operating. So there was no movement away from Delhi. So that is one feedback.

Rajesh Arora

On the part of the new Chennai second airport and other opportunities, these are the projects which we look at on the merit of it. And as and when those processes are launched by the government, yes, we definitely have keen interest in all opportunities in India. But it should be value accretive to all the shareholders. So those will be evaluated and considered on the basis of merit of that opportunity.

Again Prateek, very simply put, today I am at about 120 million passengers. Going at about 8% to 10% every year. I want to make money on the investment we have already done. I am under no pressure, obligation or optical reasons to have more airports under my belt. As a preference, we like to put more money to work in Greenfield airports. Let's see what the terms and conditions come for these Greenfield airports. But we are hungry for returns. We are hungry for dividends. And we will grow our current portfolio to whatever levels of capacity that we have created. So that is the only guidance I would like to give to you.

Moderator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we take that as the last question and conclude the question-and- answer session. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Saurabh Chawla for his closing comments.

Thank you friends for joining us on this Q4 FY'25 and Annual results call. I hope we have been able to satisfy all your queries. But in case you have any further questions, the IR team is available offline both through email questions or by having a call with them. I urge you to contact them and clarify your questions. And look forward to meeting with you very soon. Thank you so much.

Moderator

Thank you. On behalf of GMR Airports Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines.

Note

Transcript has been edited to improve readability