Adani Enterprises profit climbs 44%, helped by energy, roads

Adani Enterprises Ltd.’s quarterly profit rose 44%, buoyed by the its energy and road businesses, as Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s flagship firm tries to regain momentum following a damaging US short-seller attack earlier this year.

The company posted net income of 6.74 billion rupees ($81.4 million) for the quarter through June, compared with 4.69 billion rupees in the prior period, Adani Enterprises said in an exchange filing Thursday. There weren’t enough brokerages tracking the firm to derive an average profit forecast. 

Revenue dropped 38% to 254.4 billion rupees, while costs declined 39% to 247.3 billion rupees. Sales were hit by lower coal trade volumes and a decline in seaborne coal prices, while profit rose on account of the robust performance by energy, utility and roads business, the Ahmedabad-based company said.

Coal prices at Australia’s Newcastle port, considered an Asian benchmark, have fallen by about two-thirds this year.

Revenue at the integrated resource management arm, which mostly consists of coal trading and contributes the most to overall company revenues, fell by half, while profit rose 8%. 

Volumes for that business declined by a third, to 17.8 million tons, reflecting softening demand for overseas coal in India amid rising domestic supplies. Production from the company’s Carmichael mine in Australia, however, doubled during the quarter from a year earlier to 2.6 million tons.

“Adani Enterprises is focusing more on profitability as it is trying to restore confidence among investors,” said Kranthi Bathini, director of equity strategy at WealthMills Securities Pvt.

The incubator of the ports-to-power conglomerate has been raising funds and slowly recovering after the January broadside by Hindenburg Research, which alleged that Adani Group had engaged in years of stock manipulation and corporate fraud, causing a stock and bond meltdown. Adani has denied any wrongdoing.

“As we explore strategic expansion and growth, we remain committed to upholding the highest standards of governance, compliance and performance,” Adani, chairman of the Adani Group, said in the statement.