Adani Ports net up 3% at Rs. 1,141 crore

Mumbai: Adani Group’s main subsidiary Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, on Tuesday, reported a 3% rise in its net profit at Rs. 1,141 crore for the March quarter as compared to Rs. 1,112 crore in the same period of last year. 

“The company has overachieved against its highest-ever revenue and EBITDA guidance provided at the beginning of the year,” said Karan Adani, CEO and whole time director, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone. 

In a media statement, the company said over the last five years, APSEZ’s revenue and operating profit have grown at 16-18%, while the company’s domestic market share jumped 800bps to about 24% in FY2023.  

During fiscal 2023, the ports business major recorded investments of around ₹27,000 crore, which includes six key acquisitions totaling around ₹18,000 crore and an organic capex of around Rs. 9,000 crore.  

These investments were primarily financed through internal accruals and the cash and cash equivalents held with the company.  

“As a result, gross debt to fixed asset ratio has declined sharply from 80% in FY19 to around 60% in FY23. The investments made along with the five bid wins during the year, will enable APSEZ to achieve its targeted cargo volumes of 500 MMT in 2025 and speed up the transition of the business model to a transport utility” added Karan Adani. 

The company’s Mundra port continues to be the country’s largest commercial and container handling port with cargo volumes of 155 MMT and container handling capacity of 6.64 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in FY23, which is 10% higher than its closest rival. 

During the ongoing fiscal, the company expects its revenue to be ₹24,000-25,000 crore and operating profit at ₹14,500-15,000 crore.  

The company said it expects to reduce its net debt to operating profit ratio (leverage ratio) from 3.1 times to around 2.5 times and the capex for the current fiscal year to be ₹4,000-4,500 crore. 

In April, APSEZ had announced its first bond buyback program. The first tranche of buyback of $130 million notes which are due in June 2024 is already completed.  

“More such buybacks are likely in the coming quarters,” said the company. 

In an effort to assuage investor concerns, following a 24 January report by Hindenburg Research, the conglomerate has been prepaying debts and steadily getting the promoters’ pledged shares released.  

The promoters of APSEZ have pre-paid the fund-based loans raised through pledging of APSEZ shares, resulting in reduction of pledged shares to 4.66% as on 31 March 2023 vis-à-vis 17.31% as on 31 December 2022, said the company. 

For the fiscal 2023, APSEZ’s board has recommended a dividend of Rs.5 per share, amounting to a payout of around ₹1,080 crore.  

During FY2023, Adani Ports said the growth in its cargo volume was led by coal (+19%), containers (+7%) and liquids excluding crude (+7%).  

The non-Mundra ports volumes, during FY2023, grew at 12% Y-o-Y while Mundra port volume growth rate was at 3%. 

Besides, Adani Logistics (a subsidiary of APSEZ), recorded a 24% Y-o-Y growth in rail volume to 5,00,446 TEUs and a 19% Y-o-Y growth in terminal volume to 3,58,863 TEUs. 

During FY2023, the company’s consolidated operating revenue grew by 22% Y-o-Y to ₹20,852 crore, while the consolidated operating profit grew by 21% to ₹12,833 crore on the back of revenue growth for the ports and logistics business and operational efficiency measures, said the company.