Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ) on Tuesday reported 74 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 340.21 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31.
The company will reduce operating costs in FY21 and its capex will be curtailed to Rs 2,000 crore with focus on conserving cash, generating higher free cash flow and increasing the return on capital employed (ROCE) from its business, it said in a statement.
The country's largest integrated logistics player had clocked consolidated net profit of Rs 1,314.19 crore in the corresponding period a year earlier, the company said in a BSE filing.
Its consolidated total income marginally declined to Rs 3,360.17 crore for the fourth quarter as against Rs 3,492.72 crore in the year-ago period.
Total expenses during the quarter under review rose to Rs 3,099.18 crore as against Rs 1,840.35 crore.
"Our strategy to diversify and ability to handle all types of cargo enabled us to outperform and deliver another year of stellar operational and financial performance.
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"In FY20, we added LNG and LPG into our cargo portfolio. We have also increased our logistics footprint by focusing on increasing connectivity to our ports through our own rakes, inland freight terminals, warehousing solutions and concentrating on end mile connectivity," Karan Adani, Chief Executive Officer and Whole Time Director of APSEZ said.
As a strategy, the company always maintained a liquidity cover of 2x. While it is planning to reduce operating costs, the firm aims to curtail Capex to Rs 2,000 crore for FY21.
Adani said the focus will be on conserving cash, generating higher free cash flow and increasing the ROCE from the business.
He said considering the current situation due to spread of COVID-19, APSEZ is implementing the government's operating procedures at all its ports with safety of the workforce as a top priority.
Operational staff is quarantined at ports with necessary arrangements in place for safe work environment, he said, adding hygiene, sanitization of workplaces and sites are a top priority, and has enabled 100 per cent thermal scanning.
"Majority of our administrative staff are working from home. Ports fall under essential services and as such all our ports are operating efficiently during this period of crises to ensure that supply chain of essential goods is not disrupted," Adani added.
The company said its PAT during the last fiscal slipped to Rs 3,800 crore compared to Rs 4,006 crore in FY19 on account of forex mark-to-market loss of Rs 1,626 crore.
"Operating Revenue grew by 9 per cent from Rs 10,925 crore in FY19 to Rs 11,873 crore in FY20 on account of 8 per cent increase in Port revenue and 65 per cent increase in Logistics revenue," it said, adding "EPS (earnings per share) for FY20 was at Rs 18.35".
The company said its balance sheet continues to be strong and all our credit matrices are within the guided range or better.
About its operational profit, it said its cargo throughput was 223 million tonne (MT), recording a growth of 7 per cent, while it handled a record container volume of 6.25 million TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units), registering a growth 8 per cent.
APSEZ said Mundra Port continues to be the largest commercial port, handling 139 MT of cargo volume during the year, while Dhamra port registered a record cargo growth of 44 per cent and handled highest cargo volume of 30 MT, since inception.
"We are working towards achieving east coast and west coast parity in terms of distribution of assets and hinterland reach. In FY20, in terms of volume handled this is at 20:80 per cent against 15:85 per cent in FY 19," the statement said.
It said its logistics business has grown substantially during the period and rail volume increased by 115 per cent.
"All currently operates 60 rakes and is the largest private rail operator in India," the company said.
APSEZ has 11 strategically located ports and terminals Mundra, Dahej, Kandla and Hazira in Gujarat, Dhamra in Odisha, Mormugao in Goa, Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, and Kattupalli and Ennore in Chennai representing 24 per cent of the country's total port capacity.
The company is also developing a transhipment port at Vizhinjam, Kerala and a container Terminal at Myanmar.
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