Adani flagship firm's net profit zooms eight-fold despite drag from coal trading business

New Delhi, Oct 29 (PTI) Adani Enterprises Ltd -- the flagship firm of billionaire Gautam Adani's conglomerate -- on Tuesday posted nearly an eight-fold rise in net profit in the September quarter on strong earnings from airports and new energy units that offset the drag from coal trading business.

Net profit of Rs 1,741 crore in July-September -- the second quarter of current 2024-25 fiscal year -- was up 663 per cent over Rs 228 crore earning in the same period of last year, a company statement said.

EBITDA was up 46 per cent at Rs 4,354 crore while revenue rose 15 per cent to Rs 23,196 crore.

Except for the coal business, the firm's other main businesses saw growth in both top and bottom line.

Adani New Industries Ltd -- the unit that holds the new energy business of solar module and wind turbine manufacturing -- saw a 78 per cent jump in pre-tax profit to Rs 1,121 crore while the same earnings in the airport business were up 31 per cent to Rs 744 crore. Revenue of both businesses also rose.

Mining services posted a 65 per cent rise in EBITDA to Rs 400 crore in the September quarter.

Coal trading unit saw earnings drop to Rs 1,916 crore from Rs 2,063 crore on fall in revenues.

"AEL has recorded its highest half-yearly EBITDA of Rs 8,654 crore which is consistently supported by strong performance from emerging core infra businesses under its incubation portfolio.

"The emerging core infra businesses have recorded half-yearly EBITDA of Rs 5,233 crore with an increase of 85 per cent on year-on-year basis on back of robust operational performance," the statement said.

The firm this month raised Rs 4,200 crore through sale of shares to qualified institutional investors.

"Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) continues to focus on investing in logistics, energy transition and adjacent sectors that are core to the economic growth of the country. This record-breaking half-year performance has been led by Adani New Industries Ltd (ANIL) and Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL) with their rapid growth in capacity additions and asset utilisation," Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani said.

The focus, he said, is on execution of greenfield projects in ANIL across three giga scale integrated manufacturing plants and the accelerated development of Navi Mumbai International Airport.

"Further, AEL is poised to repeat this turbo growth across data centres, roads, metals & materials and specialized manufacturing. AEL continues to invest in innovative technology across its platforms to support this high growth phase," he said.

Giving a business update, the firm said solar module sales have crossed 2 GW during the first six months of the current fiscal year with exports rising 64 per cent and domestic sales more than doubling.

"EBITDA margins continued to improve on account of improved realization and operational efficiency through integrated production of cell & module lines," the statement said.

On data centres, it said construction of the Noida and Hyderabad centres are nearing completion while the one in Pune is 38 per cent complete.

Its seven airports saw passenger footfall grow to 45.1 million in April-September from 42.6 million in the same period last year.

Gross debt, however, rose 52 per cent to Rs 63,855 crore for the September quarter from Rs 50,124 crore at end of March 2024. PTI