Adani Enterprises Limited (512599) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q1 FY '25 Results Conference Call of Adani Enterprises Limited, hosted by Emkay Global Financial Services. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference to Mr. Sabri Hazarika from Emkay Global Financial Services. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Yes. Thanks, Sidharth. So good evening, everyone. On behalf of Emkay Global Financial Services Limited, I welcome you all to the Q1 FY '25 post earnings conference call of Adani Enterprises Limited. We are pleased to have the senior management of the company, led by Mr. Vinay Prakash, Director Adani Enterprises and CEO, Natural Resources; Mr. Robbie Singh, CFO Adani Enterprises Limited; Mr. Saurabh Shah, Deputy CFO, Adani Enterprises Limited; and Mr. Manan Vakharia from the Investor Relations team. So today's session would be a brief on the company's results, and that will be followed by the question-and-answer round. So without any further delay, I now welcome the management for the opening remarks. Over to you, sir.

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the earnings call to discuss Adani Enterprises Q1 FY '25 results. AEL'S business portfolio comprises assets spread across energy and utility, transport and logistics, direct-to-consumer and primary industry. The incubating portfolio comprises of Adani new industries, data center, airports and road businesses and established business portfolio of primary industry vertical comprises business spread across services, metals, commercial mining and industrials. AEL's incubation portfolio is consistently making significant strides in its operational and financial performance. AEL has recorded its highest ever quarterly EBITDA of INR 4,300 crores, supported by exceptional performance of incubating business EBITDA of INR 2,667 crores. The contribution of incubating business to the overall EBITDA is now 62% versus 45% in corresponding quarter of FY '24. During the quarter, the ANIL green hydrogen ecosystem revenue has increased by 138% to INR 4,519 crores, and the EBITDA has increased by 3.6x, to INR 1,642 crores on an account of higher module exports. Airport business revenue has also grown by 27% to INR 2,177 crores, and the EBITDA has grown by 33% to INR 682 crores. Total income of incubating businesses has increased sharply by over 63% to INR 9,342 crores while total EBITDA of incubating business has increased by 107% to INR 2,667 crores, while the PBT has grown by 208% to INR 1,552 crores. With this, the overall consolidated results of the current quarter for Adani enterprises are consolidated EBITDA has grown by 48% to INR 4,300 crores. Consolidated profit before tax has increased by 107% to INR 2,236 crores while the consolidated income has also grown by 13% to INR 26,067 crores. Now coming to project and operational updates on major businesses. In our Adani new industries, green hydrogen ecosystem, the solar manufacturing business has successfully operated at full capacity of 4 gigawatts for both cell and module line during the first quarter of operation. ANIL ecosystem not only achieved uninterrupted production and supply of modules, but also achieved cost optimization in its supply chain. During the quarter, the module sales has increased by 125% to 1,379 megawatt on Y-o-Y basis. ANIL's wind manufacturing business has received the type certification for 3-megawatt of wind WTG. During the quarter, we supplied 41 WTG sets to the customers, and we have an order book of 254 WTG sets. In our airports portfolio, for the first time ever, the passenger movement at our airports crossed 90 million on trailing 12-month basis. During the quarter, we added 39 new brands across all our airports out of which were 25 brands were added in our recently inaugurated terminal of Lucknow airport which can now cater to up to 8 million passengers per annum. Additionally, we added 8 new routes, 6 new airlines and 13 new flights across all 7 operational airports during the quarter. The eagerly awaited greenfield Navi Mumbai project is on track for the completion in FY '25. Now moving to the Roads portfolio. During the quarter, we have constructed 730 lane kilometer roads, which is the highest for any quarter since its inception. The greenfield Ganga Expressway project is progressing as per schedule. 3 out of our 10 under construction projects are now more than 80% complete in line with the target schedule. Adani Enterprise continues to incubate new businesses and create sustainable and long-term value for its stakeholders. Over the years, we have a track record of successfully incubating businesses which are currently leading companies in their respective sectors and delivering substantial returns to their shareholders. In line with this, the Board of Directors of Adani Enterprises have approved the demerger of food FMCG business of Adani Enterprise to Adani Wilmar along with its strategic investments in Adani commodities LLP. The food FMCG business has become self-sustained, performing well and poised for future growth. With this Adani Enterprise continues its journey to unlock value for its shareholders. Now to take you through the primary industry vertical in the mining services. Adani Enterprise is the pioneer of mine development and operator concept in India with an integrated business model that spans across developing mines as well as entire upstream and downstream activities. It provides full service range that is right from seeking various approvals, land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement, developing required infrastructure, mining, beneficiation and transport to designated consumption points. Our success is underpinned by commitment to excellent risk management and sustainable mining practices. The company is MDO for 8 blocks and 1 iron ore block. These projects are in the state of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. During the quarter, the company has delivered the quantities as per schedule. The production volume during the current quarter increased by 49% to 9.4 million metric tons, and the dispatch volume increased by 47% to 9.3 million metric tons. During the current quarter, the revenue from mining services increased by 41%, to INR 856 crores and the EBITDA increased by 43% to INR 347 crores. Moving to Integrated Resource Management business. We continue to develop the integrated in terms of relationship with diversified customers across various end user industries. We remain #1 player in India and endeavor to maintain this leadership position. Over the past couple of years, IRM business has been exploring ways to tap into new market segments to initiatives like flagship e-portal for the online trading of natural resources. By leveraging technology for faster and more reliable supplies, the portal has ensured ease of doing business for retail customers, leading to a larger market share for Adani Enterprises. IRM continues to target a balanced mix of customers through retail and public center participation as customers. The volume during the current quarter stood at 15.4 million metric tons while during the quarter, the revenue from IRM stood at INR 11,201 crores, while EBITDA was maintained at INR 990 crores. In our commercial mining business, the Carmichael mines production increased by 21% to 3.2 million metric tons, and the shipments increased by 16% to 2.8 million metric tons during the quarter. The company is having 5 domestic commercial coal blocks and 2 domestic commercial bauxite mines, which are in the project phase. These projects are in the state of Maharashtra, Chhattishgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha. In our primary industries incubation portfolio in metals, our copper unit under Kutch Copper situated at Mundra with a capacity of 500 KT-PA has started its operations and we are steadily ramping up our capacity in the free manner. Thank you. And now we can take questions.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities.

Good to see a great set of numbers. My first question is on the green ecosystem.

Sorry to interrupt Mr. Mohit. Can you please [indiscernible]. Sir. Please go ahead.

My first question is on the green ecosystem. Is it possible to break up the EBITDA into WTG and solar manufacturing?

So the EBITDA -- total EBITDA for the overall number is INR 1,642 crores, out of which INR 99 crores was contributed by the wind turbine manufacturing business and the remaining INR 1,543 crores has been contributed by the solar manufacturing.

Understood, sir. My second question, is it possible to give some color of the order book of the solar capacity, also the fact that you've done 1379 megawatts sales in this quarter. Is it possible to sell more than the capacity, I think our capacity 4 gigawatt. Can we sell it more capacity than the 4 gigawatt normally?

No. So that INR 1,379 megawatts includes about 360 megawatts of sales, which was booked in March but sold in the current quarter. So that is the reason why it is showing this number. The actual sales in per se for the current quarter is 1000 order -- megawatt. On your second question, in terms of order book, our solar manufacturing order book, we are booked for the current financial year on a full basis.

Roughly 4 gigawatts, right?

Yes.

And any color on the ramping up of the wafer capacity, how is it shaping up? Has it produced -- producing the normal level? Or do you think it will take some more time to stabilize?

So we are already producing 41 sets. So, at 5.2 megawatts, we are at more or less at full capacity of the operations. We also have an order book of 254 wind turbine sets, which means we are booked for nearly 1.5 years of our next requirements or our capacity. We do have plans for taking the capacity to 3 gigawatt over a period of time, which is what we have already guided at.

Sorry my question was on the wafer capacity.

Okay. So from wafer capacity perspective, Ingot & wafer, we are stabilizing the operations. We have started operating 2 gigawatt and we are stabilizing those operations. And by next quarter, we should have full production in the Ingot & Wafer plant. And the ramping up will also be there because we want to continue to build the entire solar module fleet up to 10 gigawatt. So even Ingot & Wafer, we'll continue to have that expansion done. And over the next 2 years, you should see full 10 gigawatt capacity right from polysilicon, ingot, wafer, cell and module.

And this timeline is -- so do you expect to reach by 10 gigawatts by end of FY '26 or in end of '27?

End of FY '26.

The next question is from the line of Brett Knoblauch from Cantor Fitzgerald.

If we could start on IRM. I guess, can you maybe just talk about what's going there with volumes and kind of where you expect that business to trend for the remainder of the year?

So Brett, the volumes, we have done about 15 million tonnes in the current quarter, and that same trend should continue with the -- we had a very good year in the half -- in last 2, 1.5-years, where we had a huge order book from various state electricity boards. But that now we are going back to what our normalized growth is, which is in the range of 60 million to 70 million metric tons and we will continue to ensure that we get that imported coal volumes and trade in India.

That's very helpful. And then maybe on the data center business. I know in the U.S., we're seeing quite significant demand for call it, new age data centers that have much higher density racks that can support newer-age AI GPUs from the likes of NVIDIA. I was wondering if your data center business has any exposure to call it, high-power computing that is needed for AI or if there's any plans for you to add that exposure?

So Brett, we are looking at basically hyperscalers, which means the large players who have the data center for their own consumption in a big way. So that's what we are targeting. Our order book is basically comprised of such players. The -- because of the reasons of agreements, we are not able to give out the name specifically but those are large-scale players, hyperscale players who use these data centers especially for computing and AI unit. And our -- as we have mentioned, our Chennai data center is now fully operational, and Noida and Hyderabad are 89% and 94% on the stages of completion in terms of project completion, and we should see the same trend continue and Hyderabad should come up online very soon.

Perfect. And maybe just an update on the build-out of the Navi Mumbai Airport. Is that still expected to be completed over, I guess, the next 12-months?

Yes. So not even next 12-months, now I would say, next 9 months because we are targeting to complete and operationalize Navi Mumbai by March '25.

And then maybe on the solar. I don't know if you already asked this. Quite significant increase in solar module sales. I think you guys said you guys were running at full capacity. Is there any plans to add additional capacity there? And how should we expect, call it, sales over the next -- or the remainder of this year. So we see similar levels? Yes, and that' it.

Sure. So Brett, yes, we are looking at -- we are looking at that, full capacity utilization will be there for the 4 gigawatt at cell and module line and 2 gigawatt of Ingot & wafer line. And in terms of expansion, as I mentioned, we are looking to uptick the expansion and take it to 10 gigawatt from the current capacities for which we are already in process of looking at various expansions within the current setup also.

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Prateek Kumar from Jefferies.

My first question is on the ANIL business. So we have done kind 40%-plus kind of margins in that business, so far solar, excluding the wind, EBITDA that you mentioned of INR 99 crores. Can you help explain the increase in margins? And what is the sustainable margins you're looking at?

So Prateek, because of the huge uptick which we are constantly having in our export orders where we have grown our export orders, which we sold about 387 megawatts in Q1 FY '24, which has now gone to 808 megawatts. And the margins that we get from our export orders, the contribution has increased because of that, which we see that for the next 1 year, we already have orders in hand, so it should continue in that level.

The line for the participant seems to be disconnected. Shall we move to the next question, sir?

Yes, yes. Please go ahead. We'll take his question back next.

Sure. So next question is from the line of Nikhil Abhyankar from ICICI Securities.

Congrats on a good set of numbers. My first question is about the airport. So can you help us with the...

Sorry to interrupt Mr. Nikhil. Can you please be a bit closer to the mic?

Yes. So can you help us with the tariff order status for Mumbai Airport? Hello?

Yes, Nikhil. So see, Mumbai Airport, the tariff order was already done. So we -- I'll just come back to you on the next, when is the cycle, I'll have to get that data across. We'll come back to you separately on that.

Okay. And sir, just a follow-up on that. So do you -- will you be able to give us the non-aero revenues for Q1? And what were they last year?

So we are not yet giving on the aero and non-aero fleet as yet because of the ramping up of our various operations where the 6 airports we took over and we are just still building up the various terminals and brand capacities and such. So over the next 6 to 9 months, we will start publishing the aero and non-aero separately. So from a Mumbai international airport perspective, the aero to non-aero split is about 45% to 55%. So 55% of the revenue and earnings come from non-aero business.

Right. And so almost around 70 -- 60-odd percent of our module sales in the exports market. So should we assume that the mix of the order book will also be in the similar range?

Yes, yes.

Okay. And we expect this realization of almost [ 0.36 ] to [indiscernible] to sustain throughout the year and going forward?

So I would say we can safely assume upwards of [ 30 ]. That's for sure. I would not vouch and just put that at [ 36 ] to continue. But yes, above [ 30 ] is what we are still looking at for the next 1 year for sure.

Okay. And sir, what is the difference in realization for the exports and the domestic module sales?

So about 15% to 20% difference is always there.

15% to 20%. Okay, understood. And sir, just a final thing on CapEx. So if you have any number for CapEx for Q1?

So see, we have given guidance for CapEx in the last call. We continue to have that same guidance in terms of Adani new industries, airports and roads taking up the largest amount of CapEx. Where roads has continued to -- continuously do the CapEx at that same run rate where we had said about $1.5 billion of CapEx and Road has actually done about $0.4 billion of CapEx during the Q1. And similar trend will continue and same way for airports and new industries. New industries CapEx because of the expansion that we are already envisaging in solar manufacturing, wind manufacturing, electrolyzers as well as green hydrogen. So that same trend will continue.

[Operator Instructions] Next question is from the line of Dhananjay Mishra from Sunidhi Securities.

Congratulations on great set of numbers. Sir, in terms of CapEx as you say, how are you going to fund and what is the status on fundraising in terms of equity or debt as of now?

So Dhananjay, as we had mentioned, airport, roads and data center are fully funded. Copper is also fully funded. So PVC also, we have completed program and sanctions are all in place. So except Adani new industries, wherever there is a CapEx which goes on. But with Adani new industry is already growing up a sizable amount of cash with the new and new expansion that we do, we will have enough cash for the equity portion of it for at least another 1 to 2 years. And other than that, we have also announced the QIP program for Adani Enterprise also. And whatever the substantial portion of equity requirement that is there for the Adani new industry will be fulfilled through this QIP program.

If QIP happens this year or even next year, it is fine. We can -- our schedule of CapEx will continue as it is right?

Yes. We are looking to fast track our green hydrogen. So we are looking to have the QIP done at the earliest.

Next question is from the line of Prateek Kumar from Jefferies.

My question was regarding, I was asking about margins here. So has the prior quarters spillover of volumes has also in the margin in this point?

Yes. Yes, Prateek. There has been uptick in margin because of the prior quarter spillover, but that trend should continue at least for 1, 1.5 years.

Okay. And you have first time given out slide on elctrolyzers, where are we in terms of like sort of starting commercial production of electrolyzers. And also you talked about 10-gigawatt power capacity -- power capacity by FY '26 in. Have we started like construction for the same because it's like 5 gigawatt of construction possible in 1 year, right? So have we started there?

So on both the questions on electrolyzer, we have started giving out what we are doing in terms of the first production that we want to do. So we have this 198 megawatts of LOA which we have received for which technology related stack development-related work has already started with certain design from a technology partner and we are testing that right now. So the testing laboratory has been commissioned, and we are benchmarking it to various tests. And we have also put up a pilot manufacturing facility where the layout and engineering has been completed. So we will keep on giving the guidance on electrolyzer every quarter-on-quarter and how the status is. In terms of renewable capacity, there has been like land allotment and other processes are in process. And as soon as that is over, we will start looking for the -- for construction on the renewable side also.

And Mining and Carmichael segment, what is the volume expectation for the full year?

So in terms of mining, which if you are referring to [ MDU ] the value expectation is basically for FY '25 we are looking at about 45 million metric tons and taking it to about 55 metric tons in FY '26. While for Carmichael -- while for Carmichael, that number is like about 12 million metric tons for the current year, taking it to 15 million metric tons, which is the maximum approval that we have by the end of FY '26.

Sure. And on CapEx to value, from your comments, but what is the 1Q CapEx which we have done overall for the company?

So see, on a quarterly, because the balance sheets are not there for this quarter, we'll give out the actual CapEx numbers for in Q2. But we did inform the -- on the call that for roads and airports and new industries, it is going on as per schedule. And we are doing our CapEx as what we have guided.

Related to some net debt. March ending net debt was around INR 41,000 -- INR 42,000 crores. How is that like? there is some increase in gross debt, But how is the net debt position now as of 1Q.

On external debt was about INR 38,000 crores in March and which is now INR 42,700 crores in June. The reason for external debt increasing is basically the financing for copper continuous roads and airports continue. All these have been taking the disbursements as per schedule and completing the projects. And the net debt position is about -- we have a cash balance of about INR 6,000-odd crores in our balance sheet. So the net debt position is at 32 -- INR 36,000 crores for the June quarter.

Okay. So it has come down versus what was the case in Q4 ending?

So it has increased only because, as I said, the external debt was INR 38,000 crores in March and at a net debt basis, after taking out cash, it would be about INR 32,000 crores which has grown to INR 36,000 crores in June quarter on a net debt basis.

Okay. External debt, okay. And couple of questions on copper segment. Would we start giving out revenue like very soon or like...

Yes. See, by Q3, you should expect the segmental results to have copper separate because then we will have certain substantial number uptick in that.

And lastly, on PVC segment, coal-to-PVC, what is the timeline of commissioning on that project?

We had guided for FY '26 and we continue to have that same guidance.

So, FY '26 end, we should expect...

Yes. December '26, yes.

So, FY' 27 roughly?

Yes.

Sure, I'll get back to the queue.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Sabri Hazarika from Emkay Global.

A few questions. Firstly, on this module pricing. So what is the overall outlook for the next, say, 2, 3 years? And any kind of like value addition you expect considering new technologies and the likes of say, for example, [indiscernible] is also one of the technologies being like examined. So anything on that front? Any color on that?

Yes. Thanks, Sabri, for the question. See, we already recently upgraded our facility. We are already running a TOPCon technology of 2 gigawatt and Mono PERC at 2 gigawatt. And in terms of technology, we keep on evaluating the efficiencies and how they are improving, and we will continue to look at other technologies, including [indiscernible] for the upcoming expansion that we do. In terms of the pricing, as I have already guided, we -- with the kind of orders in hand that we have, we will continue to have a good set of numbers in terms of pricing in the coming 1 year or so. Over the -- for the period, we will see how the market behaves, and then we'll be able to give further guidance on that.

Right. So it is like import-based pricing only, right? I mean if the duties go up, then you also tend to benefit. Is that right?

In a way, yes, but now with the -- with our expansion in terms of backward manufacturing, we will not have to worry too much on the custom duty and such because once we get into -- we have already now in ingot, wafer, once we get into polysilicon and that starts, then we don't have a look at even in terms of whether there is an import duty or not. It just benefits us anyway.

So right now, it's just 40% on modules and 25% on sales. That's the only part where duties are imposed. So anything upstream, no duties are there, right?

Yes. Yes.

Okay. Secondly, on the airport side, so in Navi Mumbai airport, I mean, in terms of -- I don't know whether it would may have been taken up in past calls, but just wanted your view on -- since the catchment area itself feels like increased manifold with this airport. So how do you see overall, I mean, demand in the Mumbai area as a whole. So do you see -- I mean, in terms of capacity, there will be some diversions of course, from the Mumbai Airport. But do you see -- I mean, any like quantitative sort of like numbers in terms of like what could be the total passenger segment growth in this -- from the commissioning of this new airport?

Yes. So Navi Mumbai, we are putting up the first phase, where the initial capacity will be 20 million passengers. And we are 100% sure with the way the Mumbai travel and everything and the catchment areas travel is, we should hit peak capacity in the first quarter itself of our operations.

Right. And you don't see any major dent in the existing airport, right, from this?

No, no, no.

Okay. And also in terms of the timeline? I mean now we are like 9 months away from commissioning. So which are the milestones which are left right now for the next 9 months?

So see the runway is already ready there, and we are working on the terminal development. And so that's also on the way. And then there are other processes in terms of lot of approvals have to be further taken in terms of they do a lot of risk management in terms of disaster management and all that. So we'll give up the airport for those tests and disaster management works, and we are looking at having the operations started by March.

Right. And okay. And one last question on this PVC business. So do you have a guidance for any kind of like EBITDA per tonne for this project, considering it's coal-based?

So see, right now, the construction is going on. So we -- it would be too premature thing to give guidance on EBITDA per tonne or so. But on a full year of operations of 1 million metric tons, we are looking at an EBITDA upwards of about INR 4,000 crores. So that's how we are looking at the overall scenario in PVC once the entire operations start.

The next question is from the line of Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities.

So a few clarifications. The Parsa, Kanta Basan seems to have recovered in this quarter. Is it fair to say that we are on track now to produce 60 million tonnes of the normal rate from this fiscal?

Yes.

And second. So all the issues are behind us, right? My second question is which are the mine is likely to start -- the start in production phase in the next couple of years?

Yes. So we are targeting Parsa to start in this current -- by end of March this year. And the second mine, we are looking at to start is Gare Palma 2.

And any color on the commercial mines, when do you think all come in for production?

So that is still under various stages of development. So we'll give a guidance by next quarter as to how it will pan out.

My last question is on coal-to-PVC. Have you achieved Russia closer, is it..

We did achieve the financial closure with SBI for INR 14,000 crores of debt.

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] As there are no further questions. I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.

Thank you so much all for attending the earnings call. We look forward to meeting you in the next quarter with a good set of numbers. Thank you. And Sabri, thank you, Emkay, Sabri for organizing the conference. Thank you.

On behalf of Emkay Global Financial Services that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.