SpiceJet shares were down by more than 3 percent on Monday afternoon, four days ahead of the announcement of the low-cost carrier's second quarter (Q2) results. The stock was trading at Rs 59.65 on the BSE at around 2 pm, down 2.37 percent, recovering from its intraday low of Rs 59.10. The carrier announced "'Spicy Annual Sale," offering all-inclusive one-way fares starting at Rs 737 for travel to select destinations on its domestic network.
"The four day sale launched today will be open till midnight, 24th November, 2016 whereas the travel period covered is from 9thJanuary 2017 to 28th October, 2017. The starting fare of Rs 737/- all inclusive is applicable on sectors like Chennai – Coimbatore – Chennai, Jammu- Srinagar – Jammu, Chandigarh – Srinagar – Chandigarh and Agartala – Guwahati covering distance upto 500 kms," the budget carrier said in a statement.
SpiceJet had reported 104 percent rise in net profit for the first quarter at Rs 149 crore in comparison to Rs 73 crore for the corresponding period last year. It was also the once-beleaguered airline's sixth consecutive profitable quarter, after Ajay Singh took control of the management from Kalanidhi Maran in January 2015.
The carrier's revenues also rose 36 percent to Rs 1,521 crore from Rs 1,113 crore, year-on-year.
The promoters hold 60.32 percent stake in the company, according to a regulatory filing for the September quarter.
SpiceJet had a market share of about 12 percent in India's domestic passenger business for the September quarter, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). IndiGo Airlines, another low-cost carrier, has the largest market share of about 40 percent.
Read: Domestic Air Traffic: How IndiGo, Jet Airways, SpiceJet, Air India, others performed in September
The passenger load factor (PLF) of SpiceJet hovers around 93 percent, the highest in the industry.
Jet Airways shares were down 2.34 percent to Rs 350.85 apiece while Interglobe Aviation (owner of IndiGo Airlines) was trading at Rs 850.80.
Other players in the Indian domestic aviation space include national carrier Air India, Vistara and AirAsia India (the last two are joint ventures of Tata Group with Singapore Airlines and AirAsia Berhad, respectively).
The BSE Sensex was down 401 points at 25,749 while the NSE Nifty was trading at 7,932, a loss of 141 points. Top Sensex losers were State Bank of India, Mahindra, Tata Steel and Tata Motors.
The BSE Bankex was down 2.97 percent, an indication of the uncertainty gripping the industry ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision to abolish Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.
The worst hit is the construction sector. The BSE Realty slumped 4.38 percent.
