Adani Ports’ 0.5% stake worth Rs 1,480 crore changes hands, seller unknown
Shares worth 0.5 percent of Adani Ports’ total equity changed hands at an average price of Rs 1,386 per share. While the buyers in this transaction remain unknown, a strategic investor is likely the seller, according to a report from CNBC-TV18.
At the end of March, the promoters of Adani Ports held a significant 65.89 percent stake in the company. Mutual funds held a 3.1 percent stake, while India’s largest insurance company, LIC, had a 7.86 percent stake.
Moreover, GQG Partners has retained a nearly 4 percent stake in Adani Ports.
Of the 21 analysts covering Adani Ports, 19 have given a ‘buy’ rating, while the remaining two have recommended a ‘hold’ rating. Shares of Adani Ports are currently trading 2 percent lower at Rs 1,413. Despite this dip, the stock is up 35 percent so far in 2024 and has posted a remarkable 96 percent gain over the past twelve months.
Adani Ports has projected its cargo volumes for fiscal 2025 to be between 460 million tonnes (MT) and 480 MT, marking a growth of 23 percent compared to the upper end of the revised guidance of 390 MT for the previous fiscal.
Last month, the Norwegian central bank announced that it was excluding three companies, including Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, from its government pension fund due to ethical considerations. India’s port city had been on Norges Bank’s watchlist since March 2022 for possible exclusion from investments, following its involvement in a port terminal in Myanmar. The Norwegian fund’s Council of Ethics acknowledged that the company had disclosed the sale of its port-related business in Myanmar to Solar Energy Ltd, but said: “No information about the buyer is available, and APSEZ has stated that it cannot provide such information sharing on grounds of confidentiality.”
India’s largest private port operator reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,039.66 crore, for the quarter ended March 31 in the financial year 2023-2024. This was an increase of 76.2 percent from Rs 1,157.55 crore reported in the year-ago period. The company also reported a 19 percent increase in consolidated revenue from operations to Rs 6,896.5 crore year-on-year from Rs 5,796.85 crore.
First print: May 24, 2024 | 5:13 PM IST