Adani Ports Tops Global Peers By Market Value On Strong Volume Growth

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. has now become the world's largest transport operations and services company by market value on strong growth in cargo volume. The market capitalisation of India's largest port operator stood at $37 billion in comparison to $35 billion of global peer Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway Co., according to data from Bloomberg.

The rally came at a time when most of the Adani Group stocks regained their market value that was lost following the impact of a short-seller report. The power and port businesses led the recovery.

The 41% surge in the company's stocks so far this year gets a further boost as the stock will soon be listed on the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex.

The ports operator recorded its highest-ever cargo volume of 419.95 million tonnes in the last financial year, a growth of 24%. Ten ports of the company recorded their highest-ever cargo volume and 100 MT in less than two years, the fastest-ever incremental cargo throughput, according to an investors' presentation.

The flagship port, Mundra, recorded a key milestone of handling 17.6 MT of cargo in May, the highest-ever monthly volume at any of the Indian ports.

The net profit of the Adani group company during the fourth quarter of last financial year rose 77% to Rs 2,014.8 crore, in line with estimates. The country's largest private port operator's consolidated revenue rose 19% to Rs 6,896.5 crore.

Adani Ports continues to outperform despite the weak start to the year for the market. Such outperformance can continue for long, with a boost to margins. The Adani Group company has bought, and thus taken out, most existing non-major concessions available where significant capacity additions can happen, Kotak Institutional Equities said in a note dated June 13.