Adani Enterprises up 10% as Cabinet may consider AAI's pact with Co today

Shares of Adani Enterprises leaped as much as 10 per cent to Rs 235.05 on the BSE on Wednesday amid report that the Union Cabinet is likely to today consider Airports Authority of India's proposal to sign a concession agreement with the company for public-private partnership of airports in Guawahti, Jaipur and Thiruvananthapuram.

In the first phase, the Union government had decided to privatise six airports and the Adani group had won the competitive bidding process under the same. In February, the group signed a concession agreement with the AAI for managing airports in Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangalore but approval regarding the other three was deferred. Privatisation has also been challenged in high courts in Assam and Kerala but a government official told Business Standard that there was no order against the process. READ MORE

“There is no stay order from courts. A concession agreement can be signed but that would be subject to court order,” said a government official familiar with the matter.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation will place a proposal for further privatisation of airports before the Union Cabinet on Wednesday, minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in a webinar yesterday.

Airports Authority of India can earn around Rs 2,000 crore as upfront fee for transferring of assets at six airports to the concessionaire. But the handover of Ahmedabad, Lucknow, and Mangalore airport is still pending as Adani Enterprises sought time to pay an upfront fee of Rs 1,000 crore for the three airports.

At 11:30 AM, the stock was trading 8.54 per cent higher at Rs 231.95 as compared to 0.36 per cent gain in the S&P BSE Sensex.  Around 1.35 crore shares have changed hands on the NSe and BSE combined, so far.

Gautam Adani-promoted Adani Enterprises had reported a pre-tax loss of Rs 137.54 crore in the June quarter, as volumes took a hit due to Covid and ensuing lockdowns.

The company in its statement had said that volumes across segments were impacted owing to lower power demand and logistics issues due to Covid-19 pandemic. For the quarter under review, the company reported a loss before tax and exceptional items against a profit before tax and exceptional items of Rs 442.12 crore in the same period a year ago.

For the June 2020 ended quarter, profit after tax (PAT) attributable to owners was Rs 30 crore, against Rs 601 crore a year ago. Revenue from operations halved to Rs 5,265.19 crore, from Rs 10,561.37 crore a year ago.

Volumes for its integrated resource management business was down 60 per cent to 7.4 million tonne (MT), against 18.5 MT a year ago. For the mining services business, production was at 2.2 MT, down 24 per cent from 2.9 MT in June 2019 ended quarter, volume for solar manufacturing was at 78 megawatt (Mw), less than one third of 236 Mw a year ago.

In its management commentary, Adani Enterprises said it will continue to pursue it Rs 10,000 crore planned capital expenditure for the current financial year. In relation to cost-cutting, company executives said there is no plan to implement any such measures including any retrenchments.