Adani Group touts very healthy balance sheet in bid to calm investors

Billionaire Gautam Adani’s embattled conglomerate said its balance sheet is “very healthy” and is laser-focused on continuing the business momentum, as it looked to reassure investors to keep faith in the group despite a share rout triggered by a damning report by a US short-seller.

Group CFO Jugeshinder (Robbie) Singh in an earnings call said the group is confident of its internal controls, compliance and corporate governance.

Separately, the Adani Group released a compendium of group companies to highlight that it has adequate cash reserves and has ability to refinance debt.

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“Our balance sheet is very healthy. We have industry-leading development capabilities, strong corporate governance, secure assets and strong cash flows,” Singh said. “Once the current market stabilises, we will review our capital market strategy, but rest assured we are confident in our continued ability to deliver business that provides superior returns to shareholders.”

Accounting fraud charges

The group has been under pressure since a Hindenburg Research report on January 24 accused it of accounting fraud and stock manipulation, allegations that the conglomerate has denied as “malicious”, “baseless” and a “calculated attack on India”.

Listed companies of the group lost over $125 billion in market value in three weeks. Stocks of most group firms were up on Wednesday.

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“We are laser-focused on continuing our business momentum, in this market volatility,” Singh said. “We are confident in our internal controls, compliance and corporate governance.”

Adani Group’s gross debt stood at ₹2.26 lakh-crore as on September 2022 and it had cash of ₹31,646 crore. “Our businesses operate on long-term annuity contracts generating assured and consistent cash flows with no market risk,” it said in the credit report.

Despite the ports-to-energy conglomerate denying allegations, the report triggered a massive sell-off in the group firm’s shares.

“The current market volatility is temporary,” Adani had said in the earnings statement of the groups flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) on Tuesday. “As a classical incubator with a vision of long-term value creation, Adani Enterprises will continue to work with the twin objectives of moderate leverage and looking at strategic opportunities to expand and grow.”

Adani said the group’s fundamental strength lies in mega-scale infrastructure project execution capabilities, organisational development and exceptional O&M management skills comparable to the best in the world.

With agency inputs