APSEZ reports highest ever quarterly cargo of 91 MMT, record EBITDA of Rs 3,005 crore in Q1 FY23

Ahmedabad, August 8, 2022

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), the largest transport utility in India, today reported it had achieved its highest ever quarterly cargo of 91 million metric tonnes (MMT), up 8 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y), in the first quarter of financial year 2022-23.

Announcing its financial results for Q1 FY2023, the company also said it had achieved a record EBITDA of Rs 3,005 crore, clocking an 11% Y-o-Y growth.

“Q1 FY23 has been the strongest quarter in APSEZ’s history, with a record cargo volume and highest ever quarterly EBITDA. This is an 11% jump on a robust performance in the corresponding quarter last year that witnessed the post-Covid demand surge,” said Karan Adani, CEO and Whole Time Director of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone.

“The company continued this strong performance in July and recorded 100 MMT of cargo throughput in the initial 99 days of FY23, a feat never achieved before," he said.

A press release from the company, part of the diversified Adani Group, said this performance was delivered by both its businesses – ports and logistics.

The ports business, on the back of 8% Y-o-Y growth in volumes, delivered an 18% jump in EBITDA. The logistics business too experienced a robust growth, with EBITDA increasing 56% Y-o-Y. The EBITDA margin of the logistics business expanded 370s bps due to economies of scale and increased share of the GPWIS revenue stream, it said.

"With APSEZ set to commission two new terminals in the coming months, this growth story will gain more momentum. The container terminal at Gangavaram Port will become operational next month, while the 5 MMT LNG terminal at Dhamra will be ready by December end. This LNG terminal has a take-or-pay contract with couple of O&G majors," the release said.

The company said its logistics business would also be boosted by the assets commissioned during the quarter. These include a multi-modal logistics park (MMLP) in Taloja, three agri-silo storge terminals with a combined capacity of 0.15 sq. ft. (one each at Panipat, Kanoj and Dhamora), warehousing capacity of 0.6 million sq. ft, two new trains under the GPWIS framework and 125 trailer trucks for providing the last-mile connectivity at three MMLPs (Patli, Nagpur, and Kishangarh).

“Our strategy of connecting port gate to customer gate through an integrated utility model is starting to yield results,” Karan Adani said. “We are confident of achieving our full year guidance of 350-360 MMT cargo volumes and EBITDA of Rs 12,200-12,600 crore. APSEZ remains committed to its philosophy of ensuring sustainable growth in partnership with our key stakeholders.”

During Q1 FY23, APSEZ handled 90.89 MMT of cargo (including 9.09 MMT at Gangavaram Port), which is ~8% Y-o-Y growth.

The growth in cargo volume was led by dry cargo (+11.2% increase), followed by containers (+3.2%), and liquids including crude (+5.6%). The automobile segment, though a small proportion of overall volumes, saw a 120% jump in volumes.

Both the Mundra and non-Mundra ports had a similar growth rate, and the non-Mundra ports contributed 53% to the cargo basket.

Mundra continues to be the largest container handling port with 1.65 million TEUs versus 1.48 million TEUs managed by JNPT during the quarter. Mundra, crossed 50 MMT of cargo volumes in the initial 111 days of FY23.

Adani Logisticsregistered a 31% Y-o-Y growth in rail volume to 111,136 TEUs and a 54% Y-o-Y growth in terminal volume to 99,217 TEUs.

The GPWIS cargo volumes more than doubled to 3.11 MMT on Y-o-Y basis.

Construction has been initiated on 4.5 million sq. ft of warehousing capacity across four locations (Mundra, Moriya, Ranoli, and Palwal), and two agri container terminals in Bihar (Darbhanga and Samastipur).

Orders have been placed for more trains under the GPWIS framework, thereby taking the total order count for the year to 37. Purchase order has also been issued for 107 tipper trucks, the company said.

Consolidated revenue (excluding Gangavaram) was almost flat Y-o-Y at Rs 4,638 crore, given the Rs 725 crore decline in revenue from the SEZ business segment. "This decline is well in line with our expectation and is factored in our full year guidance for FY23," it said.

Cargo volume growth, improved realization, and addition of OSL enabled port revenue increase of 18% to Rs 4,090 crore.

Revenue from the logistics business stood at Rs 360 crore, a growth of 34% on account of improving container and terminal traffic, and also the bulk segment with overall increase in the rolling stock.

Consolidated EBITDA (excluding Gangavaram) grew by 11% to Rs 3,005 crore on the back of revenue growth for the Ports and Logistics business.

Ports EBITDA grew 18% to Rs 2,885 crore on the back of growth in port revenues.

Logistics business EBIDTA grew by 56% to Rs 96 crore, and the margin expanded by 370 bps to 27%. This was aided by increase in cargo volumes, cargo diversification, elimination of loss- making routes and operational efficiency measures.

Gangavaram port, reported revenue of Rs 414 crore and EBIDTA of Rs 280 crore in Q1 FY23. These numbers are currently not consolidated in APSEZ results.

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