Adani Enterprises Q4 net falls 37%; incubating businesses show strong momentum

New Delhi: Adani Enterprises Ltd, the flagship incubator of billionaire Gautam Adani's conglomerate, on Thursday reported a 37 per cent drop in March quarter net profit, bogged down by one-time past airport dues and commercial mining losses.

Its consolidated net profit of Rs 450.58 crore in January-March - the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2023-24 - compares to Rs 722.48 crore net profit in the same period last year and Rs 1,888.45 crore earning in the preceding quarter, according to a stock exchange filing by the company.

The firm, which incubates business from airports to data centres, reported an 8 per cent decline in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) at Rs 3,646 crore in Q4.

While incubating businesses like new energy and airports showed strong momentum, the firm suffered a loss of Rs 201.83 crore in commercial mining, while the pre-tax earnings from the road business plummeted 84 per cent to Rs 222.03 crore.

Also, its unit Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) recognised a one-time exceptional expense of Rs 627 crore to make up for past payments.

Adani New Industries Limited (ANIL), a unit of the company that holds the new energy business -- including solar module and wind turbine manufacturing, saw a 6.2x growth in EBITDA to Rs 641 crore, while the same at airports business more than doubled to Rs 662 crore. The number of passengers at company-run airports rose 19 per cent to 88.6 million.

Its revenue from operations was up at Rs 29,180.02 crore in the three months to March 31 from Rs 28,943.84 crore a year ago.

For the full fiscal 2023-24 (FY24), net profit soared 31 per cent to Rs 3,240.78 crore. This is despite revenue from operations falling to Rs 96,420.98 crore from Rs 1,27,539.50 crore in 2022-23.

Its consolidated EBITDA for FY24 increased by 32 per cent to Rs 13,237 crore that of incubating businesses grew by 47 per cent year-on-year.

"Adani Enterprises has once again validated its position not only as the premier business incubator in India but also as a global leader in infrastructure development," said Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group.

"AEL's resilient growth model of incubation confirms the operational and organisational excellence. This is supported by high ratings and fully funded growth. Our commitment to excellence in project management and operations continues to set global benchmarks, ensuring sustainable long-term value creation for our stakeholders. We remain dedicated to corporate governance, meticulous compliance, robust performance and effective capital flow management."

Giving an operational update, the firm said ingot and wafer units, which are used to manufacture solar modules that trap sunlight to produce electricity, are operational, while it has got orders for the manufacture of 254 sets of wind turbines.

Its joint venture with EdgeConneX has one operational data centre in Chennai and construction in Noida and Hyderabad facilities is 81-88 per cent complete.

It plans to build nine data centres with a total capacity of 1 gigawatt by 2030 to provide infrastructure for the booming digital services demand.

Also, Adani started a copper unit in Mundra in March to foray into the metals business.