Adani Ports to exceed FY24 guidance of 390 MMT

AHMEDABAD : Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), India’s largest port developer and operator, will exceed its guidance of 370-390 million metric tonne (MMT) for FY24 and is on track to cross 500 MMT by FY25.

The Adani Group company recorded a 42% rise in cargo volumes at 36 MMT in November, with growth coming from all three cargo categories. Its dry bulk cargo grew 60% year-on-year(y-o-y), containers by 26% and liquids and gas by over 23%. Between April and November this year, APSEZ handled around 275 MMT of cargo, a 21% y-o-y rise.

This is nearly 70% of the full-year guidance of 370-390 MMT, and the company expects to meet, if not exceed, the target set for the entire year,” a source close to the development said. In a report released on Thursday, Motilal Oswal Research said that APSEZ is on track to surpass the FY24 volume guidance.

“With higher-than-expected cargo growth in the first eight months of FY24, we have increased our volume estimates by 2% to 410 MMT for FY24. We now expect APSEZ to register 16% volume growth over FY23-25,” it said, adding revenue would grow by 23%, EBITDA by 21% and net profit by 17%.

In its Q2 earnings call last month, APSEZ CEO Mr. Karan Adani assured analysts that the company was on track to achieve the guidance for FY25, while he declined to comment on meeting FY24 guidance.

For APSEZ, the growth would come from Adani International Container Terminal Private Ltd (AICTPL), a terminal at APSEZ’s Mundra port, and Dhamra and Ennore ports.

AICTPL handled 300,431 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) across 97 vessels in November, much more than the 298,634 TEUs it handled in March 2021, which was the company’s highest ever. Dhamra and Ennore ports also recorded their highest-ever monthly volumes of 3.96 MMT and 65,658 TEUs, respectively, in November.

APSEZ’s logistics volumes also witness record growth with year-to-date (YTD) rail volumes of about 379,000 TEUs (a 23% y-o-y rise) and General Purpose Wagon Investment Scheme (GPWIS) volumes of 12.3 MMT (44% y-o-y increase). The highest-ever monthly GPWIS volumes were recorded in November 2023 at 1.72 MMT.

According to a report by Kotak Institutional Equities, APSEZ’s growth reflects a “sharp” focus on operational efficiencies, which helped it gain business by offering a better service level for the same price. The sensitivity to select cargo classes (thermal coal, iron ore) is helping the company, as it starts to see normalised volume levels in select ports (Mundra, Gangavaram, Krishnapatnam).