Delivering its 'strongest-ever' quarterly operating performance, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) today reported an 80% jump in its net profit at ₹2,119 crore in the April-June period, compared to ₹1,177 crore in the corresponding period last year on the back of the highest-ever quarterly port cargo volumes.

The Adani group company's revenue from operations increased 24% year-on-year to ₹6,248 crore from ₹5,058 crore in the year-ago period.

In terms of EBITDA, Adani Ports & SEZ recorded an 80% rise in earnings as compared to EBITDA worth ₹2,089 crore in the year-ago period.

The overall cargo volume during the first quarter of fiscal year 2023-24 grew 12% to 101.4 MMT, supported by container growth of 15%, as compared to 90.9 MMT in the same period last year. APSEZ’s domestic cargo volumes recorded an 8% year-on-year increase, more than the country's cargo volume growth rate.

Growth in cargo volume was led by containers (+15%), dry cargo (+10%), and liquids excluding crude (+7%). The automobile segment, though a small proportion of overall volumes, saw a 54% jump in volumes.

In the logistics business, APSEZ saw logistics rail volumes growing 18% year-on-year to 131,420 TEUs, while GPWIS cargo volumes grew 40% Y-o-Y to 4.35 MMT.

"APSEZ delivered its strongest ever quarterly operating performance during Q1 FY24, with highest ever quarterly cargo volumes, revenue, EBITDA, and around 200bps jump in domestic market share, despite over 50% of the company’s total port capacity being adversely impacted for around 6 days due to the cyclone Biparjoy," said Karan Adani, CEO and Whole Time Director of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone.

Karan Adani says the company's efforts on improving operational efficiencies have resulted in domestic ports business EBITDA margin of 72% and a logistics business EBITDA margin of 28%, higher than the reported margins of listed peers from India.

"Our newly acquired assets, Haifa Port and Karaikal Port, have ramped up well with monthly cargo volumes now touching the 1 MMT mark at the two ports. With our cargo volumes crossing 100 MMT during the quarter, we are well on course to achieve our FY24 cargo volume guidance of 370-390 MMT,” he adds.

In its guidance for FY24, APSEZ says cargo volumes can be expected at 370-390 MMT, resulting in a revenue of ₹24,000-25,000 crore and EBITDA of ₹14,500-15,000 crore. "Total capex during the year is expected to be ₹4,000-4,500 crore."

With this, APSEZ's market share in the country has increased to 26% in Q1 FY24, a jump of 200bps. Among all its ports, Mundra handled 1.72 Mn TEUs in Q1 FY24, which the company claims is 12% higher than its closest competitor. The company says Krishnapatnam Port also recorded strong volumes by handling 5 MMT cargo volumes in all three months of the quarter.

Amid the development, the APSEZ stock closed 0.58% up at ₹796.2 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The stock had surged to an intra-day high of ₹804.8 and plunged to an intra-day low of ₹765 during the day trade. At the current share price, the APSEZ market cap stands at ₹1,69,430.50 crore.