India's Jet Airways has postponed the release of its first quarter financial results on the recommendation of its audit committee.
In a release on the Indian stock exchange dated 9 August, the carrier says that "the audit committee did not recommend the said financial results to the Board for its approval, pending closure of certain matters."
The carrier had been scheduled to release its results for the quarter ended 30 June on 10 August, but brought forward the board meeting to approve those results by one day, before issuing its statement late in the evening. Jet has yet to update the market on when the results will be released.
Upon opening of trade on 10 August, the carrier's stock price fell to Rs258 ($3.74) per share, its lowest in a year, before recovering slightly in morning trade.
Speculation about Jet's financial position has been rife in recent weeks, causing the carrier to issue a statement a week ago denouncing "speculative comments" from parties with vested interests "who are making deliberate attempts to undermine Jet Airways’ transformation efforts."
Meanwhile, local India media reports say that the airline's chairman told shareholders at its annual general meeting on 9 August that he feels "guilty and embarrassed" as "lots of shareholders have lost money".
FlightGlobal data shows that Goyal holds a 51% stake in the airline, and Etihad Aviation Group 24%. The remainder is publicly held.
For the year ended 31 March, Jet's operating profit dropped 30% to Rs31.5 billion ($472 million) due to higher fuel and maintenance costs, as well as adverse currency movements. It fell to a net loss of Rs6.36 billion, compared a net profit of Rs15 billion in the previous fiscal year.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
