Rise in container volume pushes Adani Ports' Q4 net up by 29%

Standalone profit for the quarter at Rs 837 cr, income up 23% to Rs 1,631 cr

A 24 per cent rise in container volumes in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2017 has seen Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) post a 27.79 per cent jump in its standalone Q4 net in FY 2016-17. As against a net profit of Rs 655.32 crore in fourth quarter ended March 31, 2016, APSEZ registered a net profit of Rs 837.49 crore for the same quarter this year.

The company's standalone total income for Q4 of fiscal 2016-17 was up 23.07 per cent to Rs 1,630.73 crore, from Rs 1,325.03 crore a year ago. The company's annual standalone net profit for FY17 grew by 4.59 per cent to Rs 3,100.61 crore, from Rs 2,964.50 crore in FY16, while standalone total income rose by 6.41 per cent to Rs 6,163.53 crore in FY17, from Rs 5,791.94 crore a year ago.

Apart from a 24 per cent rise in container volumes year-on-year in Q4 of FY17, the company's consolidated cargo for the quarter was up 14 per cent to 43 million metric tonnes (MMT) from 38 MMT in Q4FY16.

On consolidated basis, APSEZ's Q4 net profit in FY17 grew by 29.10 per cent to Rs 1,164.07 crore, from Rs 901.66 crore in the same quarter last year. Its consolidated total income was up 19.55 per cent to Rs 2,554.72 crore from Rs 2,136.87 crore. APSEZ registered an annual consolidated net profit of Rs 3,901.50 crore, up 36.61 per cent over previous fiscal's Rs 2,855.90 crore, while its annual income for fiscal 2016-17 rose by 20.89 per cent to Rs 9,479.46 crore, from Rs 7,841.32 crore.

For the financial year 2016-17, APSEZ saw its consolidated cargo volumes rise by 11 per cent on a y-o-y basis to 169 MMT, from 152 MMT in FY16. The company stated that its container volumes crossed four million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to stand at 4.24 million TEUs, up by 27 per cent over the last year.

The Board of Directors of APSEZ also declared a 65 per cent dividend on eacg equity share of Rs 2.

According to Karan Adani, Chief Executive Officer and Whole-Time Director of APSEZ, the company's strategy to diversify our cargo mix and focus on high value cargo continues to yield positive results.

"The financial year 2016-17 volume growth was led by containers and high growth in other ports namely Hazira, Dhamra and Kattupalli. Our EBITDA margins have been improving year-on-year and this is likely to continue, given our focus on operational efficiencies, technology and cost control," said Adani.

The company also stated that there were no outstanding loans, advances and deposits to related parties as APSEZ got back all such assistance amounting to Rs 3,500 crore.