Adani Ports Q4 results | Net profit grows 5%, dividend of Rs 5/share declared

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) on Tuesday, May 30, posted a 5.1 percent year-on-year increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,158.9 crore for the fourth quarter that ended March 31, 2023.

In the corresponding quarter last year, the company posted a net profit of Rs 1,103 crore, according to a regulatory filing.

In the March quarter, total revenue stood at Rs 5,797 crore, up 40 percent against Rs 4,140.8 crore in the corresponding period of the preceding fiscal.

At the operating level, EBITDA jumped 59 percent to Rs 3,270.7 crore in the fourth quarter of this fiscal over Rs 2,057.1 crore in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal.

The EBITDA margin stood at 56.4 percent in the reporting quarter compared to 49.7 percent in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal. EBITDA is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation.

For FY23, the APSEZ board has recommended a dividend of Rs 5 per share, in line with our capital allocation policy. This implies a payout of around Rs 1,080 crore for the company.

ASPEZ completed six acquisitions (Haifa Port Company, Gangavaram Port, Karaikal Port, IOTL, Ocean Sparkle, and ICD Tumb) during the year implying an investment of around Rs 18,000 crore. The total capex during the year was around Rs 9,000 crore.

With an industry-leading average turnaround time (TAT) for ships at 0.7 days, APSEZ has been a benchmark for other Indian ports and has driven the improvement in the TAT of major ports from 5 days in 2011 to 2 days currently.

A total of five bids were won during the year including two in the ports business (mechanization of Berth 2 at Haldia Port and greenfield construction of Tajpur Port) and three in the logistics business (Loni ICD, Valvada ICD, and 70 agri silos with cumulative capacity of 2.8 MMT).

Despite a record annual investment of around Rs 27,000 crore (the highest ever in the company’s lifetime), APSEZ has managed to maintain the net debt to EBITDA ratio at 3.1x (guided range of 3-3.5x).

In April 2023, APSEZ also announced the launch of the 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.

The promoters have pre-paid the fund-based loans raised through pledging of APSEZ shares, resulting in a reduction of pledged shares to 4.66 percent as on March 31, 23 vs 17.31 percent as on December 31, 2022.

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

Over the last 5 years, APSEZ's revenue and EBITDA have grown at a CAGR of 16-18 percent, while the company’s domestic market share jumped 800 bps to 24 percent in FY23, he said.

The results came after the close of the market hours. Shares of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd ended at Rs 734.30, down by Rs 3.15, or 0.43 percent on the BSE.