Adani Ports Q1 Results: Profit Beats Estimates, Cargo Volumes Rise

Adani Ports And Special Economic Zone Ltd.’s profit beat estimates in the quarter ended June, a period when the deadlier second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic stalled a nascent recovery in economic activities.

Net profit of India’s largest port operator rose 1.5% over the preceding quarter to Rs 1,307 crore in the April-June period, according to its exchange filing. That compares with the Rs 1,223-crore consensus forecast of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

Its revenue rose 26% sequentially to Rs 4,557 crore, against the estimated Rs 3,748 crore. Revenue from the ports business rose 7% to Rs 3,339 crore, the company said in the filing.

Adani Ports’ cargo volumes in the reported quarter increased 3.6% over the preceding quarter to 75.7 MMT, the filing said.

Q1 Highlights (QoQ)

• Operating profit rose 15% to Rs 2,620 crore, compared with the Rs 2,303-crore forecast.

• Operating margin narrowed to 57.5% from 63.4%. Analysts had pegged the metric at 61.4%.

“Our strategy of establishing a network of world-class ports to balance cargo across the east and west coast has been tracking precisely as per plan, thereby continuing to de-risk our growth as well as lay the foundation of a broader logistics platform," Karan Adani, chief executive officer of Adani Ports & SEZ, said in the filing. This, he said, has resulted in the company accelerating its market share gain.

Adani Ports said its market share in cargo volumes now stands at 28.6%, while container market share increased to 43%.

Outlook

• The company has revised its cargo volume guidance to 350-360 MMT, a growth of 45% over the year earlier.

• Consolidated revenue is pegged at Rs 18,000-18,800 crore for FY22.

• Logistics revenue seen to be around Rs 1,000-1,200 crore.

• It expects capex of around Rs 3,100-3,500 crore, including maintenance capex of Rs 500 crore.

• The company has guided for free cash from operations to be around Rs 7,100-7,600 crore in FY22.

Shares of Adani Ports were trading 2.07% higher after the results were announced compared with a 1.52% gain in the benchmark Nifty 50.