SpiceJet shares tumble nearly 14 pc; hit 52-week low during intra-day trade

Shares of SpiceJet tumbled nearly 14 per cent on Tuesday, falling to its 52-week low level in intra-day trade as investors continued to desert the counter.

The stock tanked 13.93 per cent to close at Rs 24.16 apiece on the BSE. During the day, it plummeted 19.30 per cent to its 52-week low of Rs 22.65.

In volume terms, 159.09 lakh shares of the company were traded on the BSE.

Since May 16, the stock has declined nearly 20 per cent.

The airline, which completed 18 years of operations on Tuesday, is facing financial headwinds and has undertaken a ''restructuring exercise'' to further reduce the liabilities.

In the equity market, the BSE benchmark ended with a gain of 18.11 points or 0.03 per cent at 61,981.79 points.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities, said the airline's stock has witnessed a fall since early May, although it has been gradually falling since December 2020.

The airline is facing severe financial crunch partly due to grounding of planes and the recent happenings at Go First has created a fear of similar happening from SpiceJet although the facts are not entirely similar, he said.

Further, Jasani said that in the nine-month period ended December 2022, the company recorded a significant loss of Rs 1,514 crore and its net worth stood at a negative Rs 5,801 crore.

''SpiceJet is expected to have an outstanding debt exceeding over Rs 10,000 crore,'' he added.

On May 11, SpiceJet said it has no plans to file for insolvency proceedings and has also started the process of reviving its grounded fleet with USD 50 million.

The statement had come in the backdrop of a lessor filing an insolvency resolution plea against the airline and crisis-hit rival Go First being admitted for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).