Adani Ports Q3 Profit Rises 26%, To Demerge Marine Business

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. reported a 26 percent rise in net profit in the October-December quarter on healthy cargo volumes and operational efficiency.

The bottomline of India’s largest private multi-port operator rose to Rs 849.8 crore during the third quarter from Rs 675.3 crore in the same quarter last year, according to its filing on the stock exchanges. This was in line with the Bloomberg consensus estimate of Rs 858 crore.

“The continued outperformance in cargo volumes is backed by healthy growth in our newer ports namely Hazira, Dhamra and Kattupalli,” Karan Adani, chief executive officer of Adani Ports and SEZ said in a separate media statement.

Revenue rose 31.8 percent in the same period to Rs 2,235.8 crore, beating the median of analyst estimates tracked by Bloomberg. Other income stood at Rs 193.8 crore as of December 31, 2016.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 29.7 percent to Rs 1,370.7 crore while EBITDA margin contracted by a percent to 61.3 percent.

Other Highlights

The company’s board has decided to demerge its marine business into its wholly-owned subsidiary Adani Harbour Services Pvt. Ltd. on a slump sale basis for a lump-sum cash consideration. The proposal is subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals. As of FY16, the marine business had a turnover of Rs 571.7, about 10 percent of the company’s total turnover during the period.

The board has also approved the buyback of 11,700 non-convertible debentures worth Rs 1,170 crore in one or more tranches.