APSEZ FY24 net profit jumps 50% Delivers 3x the India cargo growth rate and a record volume of 420 MMT

 Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (“APSEZ”) today announced its results for the quarter and twelve months ending 31 March, 2024.

# EBITDA includes the impact of forex MTM gain or loss. In Q4 FY24, forex loss is Rs 15 Cr and in Q4 FY23, forex loss is Rs 1 Cr. In FY24, forex loss is Rs 113 Cr and in FY23, forex loss is Rs 1,886 Cr. **Based on estimated future profits, APSEZ has elected to switch to the new tax regime (u/s 115 BAA of the IT Act) for one of its subsidiaries, AKPL, in Q2 FY24. Consequently, the past years MAT was written-off, which has reduced the FY24 PAT by Rs 455 Cr.  

“FY24 has been a year of many new milestones for APSEZ on both operational and financial metrics. APSEZ outperformed its upper end of guidance provided at the beginning of the financial year on cargo, revenue, and EBITDA by 6%-8%, while closing the year with net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2.3x vs its guidance of 2.5x. Clearly, the company’s business model of end-to-end service, strategic partnership with key customers, leveraging the network effect through its string of ports, and focus on operational efficiencies is yielding results, said Mr. Ashwani Gupta, Whole-Time Director & CEO, APSEZ. 

With incremental cargo volumes of 100 MMT achieved in less than two years, APSEZ is well poised to achieve 500 MMT of cargo volumes in 2025, aided by recently acquired Gopalpur Port, and the scheduled commissioning of Vizhinjam Port in the current year and WCT next year. We continue to invest heavily in the business to drive growth, particularly in the logistics segment. Our newly launched trucking segment enables APSEZ to provide the last-mile connectivity solution to its customers. Our efforts towards sustainable business growth are well recognized in the top decile ESG rating from four global rating agencies.” added Mr. Gupta.

Operational Highlights 

• In FY24, APSEZ handled ~27% of the country’s total cargo and ~44% of container cargo

• APSEZ domestic cargo volumes grew by 21% Y-o-Y vs 7.5% growth in India’s cargo volumes in FY24 

• Even after excluding the two newly added ports (Haifa – Jan’23 & Karaikal – Mar’23), APSEZ recorded a 18% Y-o-Y growth in cargo volumes

• With cargo volumes of 180 MMT (+16% Y-o-Y) in FY24, our flagship port, Mundra, is well placed to cross 200 MMT mark in FY25

• Mundra Port handled 7.4 Mn TEUs during the year, which is 15% higher than its nearest competitor

• Ten of our ports from the India portfolio recorded their lifetime high cargo volumes for the year

• AICTPL (CT-3) terminal in Mundra delivered the highest ever annual container cargo volumes at any terminal in India

• Mundra Port berthed one of the largest container ships ever – MV MSC Hamburg (399 m long x 54 m wide) – with capacity of 15,908 TEUs

• Recorded its highest ever quarterly volumes at ~109 MMT in Q4 FY24

• Highest-ever container rail (+19%) and bulk (+40%) volumes in FY24

Financial Highlights: 

• Revenue growth of 28% Y-o-Y to Rs 26,711 Cr in FY24, supported by 30% jump in ports business revenue and 19% in logistics business

• EBITDA (excl. forex) jumps 24% Y-o-Y to Rs 15,864 Cr, with Rs 15,246 Cr contributed by ports business and Rs 540 Cr by logistics business

• Domestic port EBITDA margin expanded by ~150 bps with better sweating of assets (capacity utilization of 67% in FY24 vs 56% in FY23)

• Record PAT of Rs 8,104 Cr (+50% Y-o-Y), despite a write off of Rs 455 Cr resulting from the switch to the new tax regime for one of its subsidiaries

• Completed loan pre-payments/repayments of Rs 5,584 Cr, exceeding the initial guidance of Rs 5,000 Cr provided at the start of the year

• Net debt to EBITDA improves to 2.3x from 3.1x in FY23, despite a capex of Rs 7,416 Cr

• For FY24, the APSEZ Board has recommended a dividend of Rs 6 per share, in line with our capital allocation policy. This implies a payout of around Rs 1,300 Cr for the company.

• CARE Ratings assigned ‘AAA’ (the highest possible credit rating in India) to APSEZ, making company the first private corporate infrastructure developer to be rated AAA

• S&P and ICRA upgraded company outlook from ‘negative’ to ‘stable’ during the year

Business Highlights: 

• With acquisition of Gopalpur and Karaikal ports, the total count of ports in the India portfolio increases to 15

• Entered into strategic partnership with MSC by forming a JV for Ennore Container Terminal

• Colombo terminal received financing commitment of USD 553 Mn from DFC

• With our Marine services business segment winning contracts in Sri Lanka, Mexico and Oman, the total count of tugs now stands at 111

• ALL added 34 rakes during the year, taking the total count to 127 rakes

• Total count of logistics park reached 12 with addition of 3 MMLPs (Virochannagar, Loni, Valvada) 

• Total agri silo capacity increased to 1.2 MMT with addition of 2 agri silos (Samastipur and Darbhanga)

• With commissioning of warehouses in Mumbai and Indore, the total warehousing capacity now stands at 2.4 Mn Sq. Ft.

• Launched trucking business segment during the year with 900 trucks to provide last mile connectivity to the customers from ports/ICDs/customer premises

Guidance for FY2025:

• Cargo volumes during the period to be 460-480 MMT

• Revenue for the period to be Rs 29,000-31,000 Cr

• EBIDTA for the period to be Rs 17,000-18,000 Cr

• Net Debt to EBITDA to be 2.2-2.5x

• Capex for the period to be in the range of Rs 10,500-11,500 Cr

ESG Targets and Performance 

• S&P ranked APSEZ in the top 96 percentile of the 334 companies in the Transportation & Transportation Infrastructure sector

• Sustainalytics ranked APSEZ in the top 6 percentile of the ~15,000 companies rated on ESG

• APSEZ entered into the leadership band of CDP Climate Change

• TCFD ranked APSEZ 1st in the sub industry disclosures of marine ports

• APSEZ received the 1st ranking in the sector globally across emerging markets on ESG Assessment by Moody’s. Also, receives the ‘Advanced’ status in Moody’s Energy Transition Rating.

• APSEZ is targeting Net Zero by 2040. During FY24 the company announced adding 1,000 MW of new renewable capacity.