The Adani Group’s listed companies ended the half year of FY24 with a 48 per cent rise in EBITDA at over ₹32,000 crore and, according to sources, expect to end the full year with a group EBITDA of more than ₹70,000 crore.  

In FY23, the group’s listed portfolio had reported an EBITDA of over ₹57,000 crore.

The maximum contribution to the EBITDA has come from three companies in the group — Adani Power, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone and Adani Enterprises — accounting for two-thirds of the total.

The EBITDA has been calculated based on the operating revenue and excludes other income. The numbers are consolidated.

The group’s current year-to-date performance has come at a particularly difficult juncture when it was dealing with the aftermath of explosive allegations by hedge fund Hindenburg Research of misgovernance, round-tripping of funds and investments, and price manipulation of shares. A Supreme Court-mandated expert committee to look into the allegations, all but gave it a clean chit, and an investigation by market regulator SEBI is still to give the final report on it.

Core EBITDA, margin

The core EBITDA of the portfolio, which encompasses the infrastructure-focused companies, formed the bulk of the total and rose about 52 per cent from a year ago.  

The energy portfolio – consisting of Adani Green Energy, Adani Energy Solutions, Adani Total Gas and Adani Power – at a combined EBITDA of over ₹16,000 crore and half of the portfolio total, rose over 49 per cent rise from the year-ago period.

Staples and edible oil maker Adani Wilmar saw a dip in operating profit in the half year, while media company NDTV made an operating loss.

Despite incubator Adani Enterprises reporting a steep fall in revenue, at the EBITDA level it had a gain of over 37 per cent, while its operating margin expanded to 10.33 per cent from 4.57 per cent last year.

With the exception of Adani Wilmar, all the companies reported an expansion in EBITDA margin ranging from 347 bps to 2,989 bps.

Capex, debt  

Almost all the companies have major expansion plans in the current year with the flagship Adani Enterprises expected to spend around $3.8 billion, substantially scaled down from its original target of $5.3 billion. More than half of the budgeted capex is expected to be directed towards ports and airports.

In the first half, the company spent about ₹5,350 crore on the eight airports in its portfolio, out of the total allocation of ₹11,000 crore.

Adani Ports has incurred an expenditure of ₹3,800 crore in the first half out of the total ₹4500 crore for the full year; Adani Energy Solutions has spent about ₹2,500 crore out of the total targeted ₹5,500-6,000 crore, while Adani Total Gas has spent about ₹350 crore of the budgeted ₹1,200-1,500 crore.

The group also ended the half year with a stable debt level of just over ₹2-lakh crore, very little changed from what it was on March-end.

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