Billionaire Gautam Adani's electricity transmission firm ATL on Saturday reported a 60 per cent drop in its consolidated net profit in the fourth quarter on the back of one-time refinancing charge.
Adani Transmission Ltd's (ATL) net profit in January-March at Rs 58.97 crore was 60 per cent lower than Rs 146.7 crore net profit in the same quarter last year, the company said in a statement.
The decline in profitability was "primary due to one-time write-off of finance sunk cost of Rs 185 crore," it said.
Later talking to PTI, ATL chief executive Anil Sardana said the fourth quarter net profit was impacted by long-term financing arranged to meet capex of a company unit for five years.
Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) acquired 25.10 per cent stake in Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd (AEML) from ATL along with an investment in shareholder subordinated debt in AEML.
The total QIA investment in AEML is Rs 3,220 crore which includes equity consideration of approximately Rs 1,210 crore and shareholder subordinated debt of about Rs 2,000 crore, he said.
AEML in February also completed first ever USD bond issuance by a private integrated utility from India, raising USD 1 billion.
He said but for the one-off cost, for 2019-20 full fiscal the company had excellent financial and operational performance.
Net profit rose 26 per cent to Rs 707 crore. Average transmission line availability during the year was 99.76 per cent.
The company's operational performance was not impacted during the nationwide lockdown imposed to prevent spread of coronavirus as transmission lines were fully available for moving electricity, he said.
For the 2020-21 fiscal, ATL has a capex of Rs 3,000 crore and AEML has another Rs 1,500 crore.
"Our margins are fully protected in FY21," he said adding company margins depend on availability of transmission assets.
Total income rose to Rs 3,317.51 crore in the fourth quarter of FY20 from Rs 2,569.16 crore in the year-ago period.
For the full fiscal 2019-20, consolidated net profit rose to Rs 706.49 crore, from Rs 559.20 crore in 2018-19.
Total income in 2019-20 rose to Rs 11,681.29 crore, from Rs 7,560.80 crore in the previous fiscal.
The board of the company also approved raising up to Rs 2,500 crore through various means, including issuance of equity shares or convertible bonds through QIP.
"There is abundant potential for significant growth in India's transmission sector in the coming years. With the government's core focus towards the objective of 24x7 power for all, Adani Transmission Ltd with its widespread network and continuous growth looks forward to become world-class Electric Utility," Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani said.
About the impact of COVID-19, the company said it is in the business of power generation, transmission and distribution, which comes under essential services, and thus the impact of the outbreak on its business and financial position will not be significant.
The management does not see any risk in the group's ability to continue as a going concern and meeting its liabilities, it added.
Adani Transmission is the transmission and distribution (T&D) business arm of the Adani Group.
It is the country's largest private transmission company with a cumulative transmission network of more than 14,739 ckt (circuit) km, out of which more than 11,477 ckt km is operational. Around 3,262 ckt km is in various stages of construction.
The company also operates a power distribution business serving over 30 lakh customers in Mumbai.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
