Adani Ports Q3 Results: Profit Rises 15%, Beats Estimates On Higher Cargo Volumes

Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd.’s quarterly profit rose, beating estimates, as acquisition of the Krishnapatnam port in October last year boosted volumes of India’s largest port operator.

Overall cargo at major ports is down 7% year-on-year in the first 10 months of FY21, Jefferies wrote in a note. “Adani Ports has outperformed at 8% year-on-year growth, driven by the Krishnapatnam Port acquisition and market share gains,” the note said.

According to the company’s shareholding pattern for the quarter ended December, the promoter group held 63.74% stake in the company, out of which 38.8% remains pledged. The company said it will pare promoter pledges to “negligible levels” by September 2021. “The recent Total-Adani Green deal could help promoter pledge reduction,” Jefferies said.

Outlook For FY21

• The company expects volumes to range between 225 MMT and 230 MMT for the ongoing fiscal, excluding those of Krishnapatnam port. It expects volumes at Krishnapatnam to be 20 MMT during the second half of the ongoing fiscal.
• Consolidated revenue is pegged at 12,700 crore for FY21. Port revenue pegged at Rs 10,800 crore while logistics revenue seen to be around Rs 1,000 crore.
• It expects capex of Rs 2,000 crore, including maintenance capex of Rs 500 crore.
• The company has guided for free cash from operations to be around Rs 5,600 crore.

Shares of Adani Ports fell as much as 1.5% during trade on Feb. 9 but recovered later to end little changed at Rs 581.95. The benchmark NSE Nifty 50, too, ended little changed.