Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) said that it has recorded a 26 per cent growth year-on-year in cargo volume in September. During H1FY24, the company managed a lifetime high of 202.6 MMT of total cargo, thereby crossing the 200 MMT milestone between April 2023 and September 2023.
The growth was contributed by all three cargo types — dry bulk (32 per cent), containers (20 per cent) and liquids and gas (+21 per cent).
Following this, Adani Ports share price jumped 1 per cent on NSE and touched Rs 835 on Tuesday. At 1.15 PM, Adani Port shares were trading at Rs 827.10.
“During September 2023, APSEZ (Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone) recorded cargo volumes of 32.8 MMT (+26 per cent YoY) with all key ports delivering double-digit growth,” the Adani company said in an exchange filing on Tuesday.
Adani Ports’ total cargo for the first half of the 2023-24 fiscal reached 202.6 million metric tonnes (MMT), crossing the 200 MMT milestone in the initial six months of the year, according to the filing.
It further said all key ports in the APSEZ portfolio led to the growth with container cargo witnessing an increase of 18 percent to 74.8 MMT and dry bulk recording growth of 10 per cent to 106.3 MMT.
“Logistics business continues to record significant growth, with the highest-ever half-yearly rail volumes of 279,177 TEUs (+25 percent YoY) and GPWIS volumes of 8.92 MMT (+42 per cent),” the firm added.
In August, APSEZ’s total cargo volume rose 17 per cent from a year ago to 34.2 MMT. Adani Ports has six ports and terminals on the west coast — Mundra, Dahej, Tuna, and Hazira in Gujarat; Mormugao in Goa; and Dighi in Maharashtra.
The company operates five ports and terminals on the east coast — Dhamra in Odisha; Gangavaram and Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh; and Kattupalli and Ennore in Tamil Nadu.
Last week, Adani Ports started a buyback programme of some debt securities in April to prepay part of its near-term loans due in 2024.
By using bond buybacks, companies can repurchase debt through tender offers to bondholders, enabling them to retire some or all of the securities ahead of their due date.
The private port operator has started a tender offer to buy the outstanding 3.375 per cent senior notes due in 2024 for up to $195 million in cash, billionaire Gautam Adani-led company said in a regulatory filing.
The purpose of the tender offer is to partly prepay the company’s near-term debt maturities. Following the successful completion of this tender offer, the company expects $325 million notes to remain outstanding, it said.
This is the Adani Ports’ second tranche of the bond-purchase programme after it settled notes worth $130 million in May this year.
The company has said it plans to keep buying the outstanding notes over the next three quarters for cash. The ports and logistics company intends to fund the buyback from its cash reserves.
The tender offer will expire at 5 pm, New York time, on October 26, 2023, unless extended or earlier terminated, the company said.
The company has engaged Barclays Bank, DBS Bank, Emirates NBD Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Mizuho Securities (Singapore), MUFG Securities Asia Singapore Branch, SMBC Nikko Securities (Hong Kong) Limited, and Standard Chartered Bank to serve as dealer managers for the tender offer.
