Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ) posted a 26.33 per cent drop in consolidated net profit to ₹757.83 crore for the April-June quarter from ₹1,028.69 crore a year earlier as cargo volumes declined 27 per cent cutting revenue by 18 per cent.
India’s biggest private port operating firm earned ₹2,292.69 crore during the first quarter from Rs2,794.47 crore, a drop of 18 per cent. Port revenue declined to Rs 1,904 crore during the June quarter from ₹2,425 crore a year ago.
The company handled 41.41 million tonnes (mt) of cargo during the quarter across its portfolio of nine ports, a decline of 27 per cent from the 56.75 mt handled last year. The total cargo included 1.23 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
“In-spite of decline in cargo throughput, APSEZ was able to maintain port EBIDTA margin at 70 per cent due to its strategy of diversifying cargo mix, ability to maintain realization and reduce operating costs,” said Karan Adani, chief executive officer and whole-time director, APSEZ.
During the quarter, Mundra port, the company’s flagship port, overtook state-run Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust to emerge India’s biggest container port. Mundra handled 968,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) during the quarter, a decline of 17.8 per cent from the 1.18 million TEUs it handled during the first quarter of last year.
The total cargo including containers handled by Mundra port during the June quarter fell 30 per cent to 25.75 mt from 36.77 mt a year earlier.
Karan Adani said that APSEZ is expected to take over Dighi port in end-September or early October after getting approval from the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) and will re-start port operations with an investment of Rs 100 crore.
APSEZ acquired Dighi under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
The firm expects to close the Krishnapatnam port deal by the end of the month, he added.