BMCL expected to reduce loss

The company's lenders are Krung Thai Bank, TMB Bank, Bank of Ayudhya and Siam City Bank.

The reasons for the conditions of the banks' Onshore Facilities Agreement under Tranch A being amended are BMCL's current operating results and the delay in the MRT route-extension projects over the past few years, which affected the company's ability to meet the financial covenants and the repayment schedule.

Under the original schedule, the repayment period runs from 2006 to 2016 and entails a total amount of Bt11 billion. The revised schedule, however, states that the company will make repayments totalling Bt10.6 billion from 2013 to 2020.

The lenders have also lowered the interest rate on the loan from August 2008 to December 2012 from minimum lending rate +0.25 per cent per year to a fixed rate of 3.75 per cent per annum.

Phillip Securities said in its research that although BMCL could not reduce its overall debt, it had been able to lengthen the repayment period and reduce its cash outflow by Bt7 billion between August 2008 and December 2012.

As a result, the brokerage expects BMCL's loss this year to improve to Bt1.26 billion, from the previous estimate of Bt1.39 billion.

Kim Eng Securities (Thailand) expects BMCL's net loss this year and next to come in at Bt1.15 billion and Bt960 million, respectively, now that the company has succeeded in having the loan conditions amended. The company is expected to generate a net profit in 2011.

BMCL posted a net loss of Bt381 million in the second quarter, increasing from Bt332 million in the corresponding period last year due to a 47-per-cent rise in sales and administration costs.

The company booked a net loss of Bt739 million in the first quarter.

Sicco Securities forecast in its research that BMCL's loss this year would decline to Bt1.26 billion compared with Bt1.47 billion last year, given that the expected interest payment has declined to Bt746 million from the brokerage's earlier target of Bt933 million.

Sicco also forecast BMCL's passenger numbers to grow by 4 per cent this year.