Adaniports Ltd — Q3 FY24
Adani Ports delivered its strongest ever quarterly performance in Q3 FY24, with revenue surging 45% YoY to INR 6,920 crore and EBITDA growing 39% YoY to INR 4,186 crore.
bullish
high
✓ Verified against BSE filing
Claim Ledger
Did management answer the analysts?
Every material analyst question, graded on whether management actually answered it — with the verbatim exchange and quantitative claims checked against filed numbers.
58%Questions answered3Evaded / deflected12Questions audited
Partial answer
High priority
Key drivers for cargo growth and outlook for next year.
Asked by Bharanidhar Vijayakumar, Avendus Spark
Provided qualitative drivers but no quantitative growth outlook for specific cargo types.
no specific volume growth numbersqualitative only
Read the exchange
Question
Just wanted some color on what are the key drivers driving the phenomenal cargo growth in volume terms? Say, if you can touch upon drivers for coal, containers, gas and liquid, and probably also give an outlook on how do you think this will progress in the next one year.
Karan Adani, Managing Director
I think, firstly, overall, driver is the, the economy. I think, we are seeing strong demand, across the board. Also, the second is a strong CapEx cycle that we are seeing. ... we expect the country to grow at 7%... anything between 6.5%-7% GDP growth.
Declined
Medium priority
Haifa Port revenue, EBITDA, and PAT numbers.
Asked by Bharanidhar Vijayakumar, Avendus Spark
Explicitly declined to provide the requested numbers, deferring to full year results.
refused to disclosedeferred to full year
Read the exchange
Question
Can we have the absolute number in terms of revenue, EBITDA, and PAT for this port?
Karan Adani, Managing Director
We are currently not reporting it. We're reporting it as, consolidated for our international operations, but at the time of full year results, we will give, more color around it.
Partial answer
High priority
Capital structure and growth opportunities given strong cash generation.
Asked by Parash Jain, HSBC
Reiterated leverage target but did not detail growth plans or capital allocation beyond that.
no specifics on growth opportunitiesvague on inorganic
Read the exchange
Question
Given your strong cash generation of north of INR 15,000 crore EBITDA, can you give us a picture of how should we think about your capital structure, growth opportunity, both within India, outside India, logistics and ports, or inorganic, or you are actually ready to drive net debt to EBITDA to even lower level?
Karan Adani, Managing Director
I think we would continue to be around 2.5x net debt to EBITDA. ... you should consider 2.5x as the milestone that we would look at maintaining.
Answered
Medium priority
Impact of Red Sea disruption on Haifa Port volumes.
Asked by Asmeeta Sidhu, MetLife Investment Management
Directly answered that volumes were steady and marginally increased, no evasion.
Read the exchange
Question
Have you seen any significant impact to the cargo coming in and out of Haifa, or have they sort of still been normal being?
Karan Adani, Managing Director
From Haifa perspective, we've not seen major impact in terms of our volume. Our volumes have remained steady, and marginally increased, at Haifa.
Evasive
Medium priority
Key targets and efficiency focus for the port company.
Asked by Pulkit Patni, Goldman Sachs
Spoke generally about capital allocation and supply chain but gave no concrete targets or efficiency metrics.
no specific targetsgeneric principles
Read the exchange
Question
I wanted to just understand, you know, what are going to be your key targets for, you know, the port company over the next few years? If you could give a sense of, you know, areas of efficiency, et cetera, that you would be focusing on?
Ashwani Gupta, CEO
capital allocation is the key success factor in this industry. ... supply chain efficiency and effectiveness drives the business operations, whatsoever is the industry, auto or non-auto.
Answered
High priority
Size of coastal coal shipping opportunity and plans.
Asked by Pulkit Patni, Goldman Sachs
Provided specific volume estimates for coastal exports and imports for next year.
Read the exchange
Question
It's good that you've disclosed the volumes on coastal coal shipping. Can you give a sense of how big this opportunity could be? You know, what are our plans in domestic coastal transportation?
Subrat Tripathy, CEO of Ports Business
we are looking at the volumes of about close to 5 million to begin with as far as coastal exports is concerned. ... Receipts will be in the range of about... upwards region of about 8-10 million tons.
Answered
High priority
Impact of Red Sea on port volumes in January.
Asked by Nikhil Nigania, Bernstein
Quantified exposure and stated no major impact observed in January.
Read the exchange
Question
The developments around Red Sea. How do they impact your volume? Or have you seen any impact on port volumes in January due to that?
Karan Adani, Managing Director
roughly, 10% of our total volume travels through Red Sea. So as of now, we've not seen any major drop. And we keep an eye on it, but so far in January, we've not seen any major drop.
Partial answer
High priority
CapEx guidance for current year and next year.
Asked by Nikhil Nigania, Bernstein
Gave nine-month actual but only pro rata assumption for full year; no next year guidance.
no full year numberdeferred next year guidance
Read the exchange
Question
If you could share the guidance for CapEx, for this year as well.
Karan Adani, Managing Director
For the current year, in the nine months, we have done close to INR 5,500 crore of CapEx. So you can assume that, for the full year, you can go on a pro rata basis, largely. For the next year, we will guide at the time of our full year results.
Answered
Medium priority
Margins on coal cargo vs other cargo.
Asked by Achal Lohade, JM Financial
Provided specific margin range for coal, confirming similar margins.
Read the exchange
Question
Does this coal volume come at a lower margin, same margin, better margins than the India port margins?
Karan Adani, Managing Director
It's similar margins. Coal roughly gives us anywhere between 68%-72%, depending on port two.
Answered
High priority
Market share and plans for rail logistics business.
Asked by Achal Lohade, JM Financial
Provided current market share and specific target for rake count.
Read the exchange
Question
Can you help us understand what is the market share, you know, as of now we have or for third quarter we have? And how do you see it evolving over the next, let's say, two or three years?
Sushant Kumar Mishra, CEO of Logistics; Karan Adani
Our present market share is 12% in the Exim business. ... our target is, we want to take up our rake count from roughly, which is today at 115. We want to take it up to 300 by FY 2028.
Partial answer
Medium priority
Capital return policy including buybacks.
Asked by Atul Tiwari, Citigroup
Reiterated dividend policy but did not commit to buybacks or provide specific plans.
no commitment to buybackvague on tax efficiency
Read the exchange
Question
Would you kind of look to, you know, return back some capital through buybacks, et cetera, to the shareholder? Any thoughts along that line over the next year?
Karan Adani, Managing Director
We have dividend of 20%-25% of our PAT. So we will look to stick to that policy itself. ... We will figure out what is tax efficient, whether it is buyback or dividend, that we will see.
Declined
Medium priority
EBITDA breakdown for logistics sub-segments.
Asked by Priyankar Biswas, BNP Paribas
Explicitly declined to provide the requested breakdown, citing current reporting standards.
refused to provide sub-segment numbersdeferred to next year
Read the exchange
Question
Would it be possible to share what is the, let's say, the EBITDA of the containers and the... AALL business out of the entire EBITDA that you are reporting for logistics?
Karan Adani, Managing Director
we have been reporting consolidated numbers only for individual business segment-wise. So we'll continue with that stand for the time being. And probably next year, we'll analyze whether it is useful for us to give the sub-segment numbers.