Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Adani Enterprises Limited Q1 FY 2024 earnings conference call, hosted by Investec Capital Services. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Aditya Bhartia from Investec Capital Services. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Listen. We are pleased to host the senior management team of Adani Enterprises today. We have with us Mr. Vinay Prakash, Director, Adani Enterprises, and CEO, Natural Resources, Mr. Robbie Singh, CFO, Mr. Saurabh Shah, Finance Controller, and Mr. Manan Vakharia, Investor Relations. We'll start the call with opening remarks from Mr. Robbie Singh, post which we'll move to Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you so much. I welcome you all to the earnings call to discuss first quarter financial year 2024 results. As you know, AEL's business portfolio comprises both established and incubating assets spread across energy, utility, transport, and direct-to-consumer, and primary industries. In services, AEL includes Adani Digital Labs and Shared Services Center, Apex. For the sustained long-term value, AEL has made significant progress in our attractive incubation pipeline. This first quarter of financial year 2024 is powered by the emergence of green hydrogen business, Adani New Industries Limited, that now contributes over 10% of EBITDA. Our performance for the quarter reflects our strong operational momentum on the back of ANIL ecosystem and the incubating business performance. The consolidated total income was at INR 25,810 crore.
Consolidated EBITDA increased by 47% year-on-year to INR 2,896 crore. In line with the increased EBITDA, consolidated PAT increased by 44% to INR 674 crore. In our commitment of having 1 GW of data center platform in India, I am pleased to inform you that the AdaniConneX has secured the largest data center project financing deal in India with $213 million construction facility. For update of some of our incubating businesses. In Adani New Industry, our green hydrogen ecosystem, during the quarter, the integrated manufacturing division received the provisional certificate for 5.2 MW Prototype 1 wind turbine. The production of this is expected during this quarter. During this quarter, ingot wafer facility preliminary work has commenced, and we will update at the half-year results. The airport portfolio is performing as expected.
The passenger number grew 27% and is now tracking at 85 million a year, with this quarter's number being close to 21.3 million. In the road portfolio, construction is in full swing in our 10 M and BOT projects. Three out of these 10 projects have more than 50% completed construction, and the rest of the projects are as scheduled. In the journey of AEL, our ESG philosophies are embedded into the fundamental plan with a significant amount of CapEx going into our green hydrogen business and other businesses of similar nature. There are certain awards that highlight the consistent endeavor, and those include: Adani New Industries Limited, the green hydrogen ecosystem, we won the Aegis Graham Bell Award in the category for innovation in manufacturing. Adani Road Transport team won Energy Conservation Award, Gold category in the road construction.
Now I'll hand over to my colleague, Vinay Prakash, who will take you through the mining services and the IRM business highlights. Vinay, over to you.
Thanks, Robbie. Greetings all. As far as Adani Enterprises is concerned, it's the pioneer on MDO, which is Mine Developer and Operator concept in India, with an integrated business model that spans across developing mine as well as the entire upstream and downstream activities. It provides a well-serviced range, right from seeking various approvals, land acquisition, INR, developing required infrastructure, mining, verification on-site, and the transportation to the designated consumption point, which is TPS. The company is MDO for eight coal blocks and two iron ore blocks. The projects are located in the state of Chhattisgarh, MP, and Odisha. The company has serviced its contract, and the quantity delivered during the quarter were as per the schedule. During the quarter, the revenue from mining stood at INR 608 crore and EBITDA at INR 242 crore.
In terms of the other business, Integrated Resource Management business, we have continued to develop business relationship with a diversified customer across various end-user industries. We remain number one player in India and endeavor to maintain this leadership position going forward. The volume in Q1 FY2024 is stood at 17.8 million metric tons, and EBITDA for the Q1 has increased to INR 1,000 crore on account of improved margin on year-on-year basis.
Coming on commercial mining, the company is now having seven commercial blocks. The blocks are located in the state of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Odisha. We already got the commission of EAC committee for the Dhirauli coal block in May 2023, and whereas we have got the vesting order for the northeast of Madheri, Kuranda, and Gandera coal block by MoC in June 2023. Thank you. We open to Q&A.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin with the question and answer session. Anyone wishing to ask a question, may please press star and one on your touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use answers while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is on the line of Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good evening, sir, and thanks for the opportunity. My first question is on the Mumbai Airport. I believe that GMR has got a favorable order from TDSAT on the existing contract, and I think that this particular order should be applicable to Mumbai Airport. Is my understanding right?
The order, generally as a rule from a regulator, applies only to the specific order that is sought by the asset owner. However, from a precedence point of view, you are correct, that in the filing of, MIAL also, the similar, considerations will apply.
Understood. This will take time to get resolved. Yeah. What is the time expectation when you think, you know, this new thing can get reinterpreted and be a part of, you know, our higher tariff?
No, that is, I think, important thing to realize there is that it's a regulatory process. We don't want to specifically comment on time because it's a lot of these, relatively complex considerations that the regulators have to do their work. I will just, highlight you the nature of the regulatory process. The time value of money is always accounted for in the regulatory order, so if there is a delay or if it takes some time to value it, that will be captured in the final order. There's no economic value loss, and that is one of the key aspects of the regulatory business.
Understood, sir. My second question is, there's a sharp improvement in Mumbai airport, the airport EBITDA, QOQ, QOQ. Is this primarily driven by non-aero, or have you seen the spending per pass increasing very fast in the quarter, QOQ?
Largely the EBITDA growth and EBITDA is driven by the two aspects. One, the spending by the passengers and non-passengers at the airport. Secondly, the increasing in the actual gross spend rate of each of the passenger and non. Two aspects contributing to the growth in EBITDA.
Okay, sir. My third question is on Carmichael. Is it possible to share the revenues and EBITDA for the quarter? The related question is that in the segmental, in the segmental, segmental, which you disclosed, commercial mining is, is one line item. I believe this primarily corresponds to Carmichael. Is my understanding correct?
Yes.
Yes, the understanding is correct.
Okay. My last question is, sir, on the solar PV, we have done a very, very good job in the sense the numbers are very good for the quarter, and I believe they're exporting a very large amount to the third countries. Can you please specify which are the countries which, where you are exporting our modules right now? Some ballpark number.
Primarily, U.S. and Europe, overall.
Understood. Thank you, sir. That's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, we'd like to remind participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Aditya Bhartia from Investec Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Sir, could you share some details on the progress on creating green hydrogen ecosystem? I understand that we have the 4 gigawatt solar module capacity, but just want to understand how we're looking at the timelines for expansion of this facility as well as backward integration. Also, has there been any progress on technology sharing for electrolyzer?
No, all of that is obviously, as, as like I said in my opening comment, the backward integration is continuing, so wafer and ingot plant is under development and we'll formally update as to where it is in, in our half-yearly result. Wind tech facility, as I said, has already achieved provisional certificate, so it is up and running and is moving to commercial production. similarly, all the ancillaries, be it glass, be it aluminum frame, back sheet, EVA, all of that are now now in very advanced stages, and in majority of the cases, the ancillary system is operating. We expect the there's no change in the timeline as we had indicated last year, but I think from a formally full detailed timeline on green hydrogen, the best time to update will be May next year.
Certainly on, on the ingot wafer and further improvement, we'll provide that update in the second half with the second half results. The other element of it, which is which you referred to being the electrolyzers. There, yes, we, we all the agreements in relation to the three technologies are in place, and we will be... We expect the sometimes with towards the end of this quarter or early the third quarter to start the development and construction work on that. To have our own integrated facility of, for electrolyzer manufacturing. The land for this for the solar and wind plants have been identified and site work, site evaluation, site work, geotech, and all, all of that is going on.
We'll be in a position to update over the next 6 to 9 months. In the ancillary and product system also, the work is underway. Site evaluation versus, where, you know, green methanol and green ammonia, fertilizer, green fertilizers. Everything is on that sense, at full speed in that vertical. We will provide a comprehensive update with the, with final year results and a update on the ingot wafer and other facilities on the integrated manufacturing in after the half, half-yearly results.
Okay, sir. That, that would be helpful. Sir, on the data centers business, just wanted to understand, what would be the proportion of overall capacity that has been firmed up with the, with the, orders already? And if we look at this, this, this segment, what would be your competitive ad- what do you consider as our biggest competitive advantage versus our peers?
See, we, we don't specifically look at, you know, it's like it's sometimes it gets, you know, I would say, it gets too much on what's the competitive advantage or what's not. India is going to be a very significant data market.
Mm-hmm.
It will have lot more than just one or two players. Okay. We would like to be one of the leading players and a full service data center, okay. There are various aspects, cloud data center, edge data centers, et cetera. In each aspect, we would like to be a significant player. Currently, we have a order book, other than the operating and near operating order book of over 110 MW, and of hyperscalers, and we expect that to rise dramatically over the next couple of years. We will be well on the way to completing 1 GW by before the end of this decade.
Understood, sir. Lastly, sir, what are our CapEx plans, especially for green hydrogen, airports, and data center segments for the next three years?
Overall, in the longer term, the CapEx plans don't alter for, for the asset. Like green hydrogen, full 3 million ton facility, approximately $50 billion, as we had outlined earlier.
Mm.
- previous year. That plan continues afoot as it is. Which will be. This year, we will touch about just about between $300 million-$400 million, then it rapidly starts rising from next year and the year after. On the airport side, we will have about, this year, just about $1.1 billion. All of these are just to clarify, we are assuming INR 80 to a dollar rate, but adjust for that.
Mm-hmm.
About $1.1 billion this year will be the CapEx on airport. It will broadly remain in that range for the next years, and then there will be a decline once we complete the first phase of our development plan in airports.
Sure, sir. Thanks, sir. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is on the line of Nikhil Abhyankar from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you, sir. Thanks for the opportunity, and congrats on a good set of numbers. Sir, what's the guidance for commercial mining this year? What exactly is the reason for asking the question is, our production has fallen, like, 10% YOY, so what is the exact reason for the same?
Vinay, please, over to you.
Sorry? I, I got the first question currently in Australia, I'm not getting able to get the proper voice also. As for your first question is about the commercial mine. We are very hopeful of starting the open cut in Dhiroli mine, which is the commercial mine, in this financial year. We have already got the EC permission. We are hopeful to get both FC Stage I and Stage Two. As soon as we get Stage Two, we should be in position to do the box cutting Dhiroli mine. Our other mines, be Bijan or Colquiri or GPU, will take some time because out of 7, 4 are actually underground mines, so they'll take some time to go for the preparation.
You have to prepare for shaft incline, and then you need to put machines to take out coal. That will take time up till 2025, 2026. In this financial year, we are going to start, we should start 1 mine, as far as the mine operation is concerned. Coal will come only the next year.
Okay. So what is the guidance for this year for, volume guidance?
For poly? For the coal mining volume?
Yes.
Sorry, you're talking about the coal mining volume?
Yes, sir. Coal mining. C-commercial mining volume. Yes.
Yes. Commercial mining, I don't think we'll get any volume this year in India.
Okay. We are also developing Talabira mine, so what is the how much do we expect per year out of it, volumes? When will it?
Talabira mine, Talabira mine is having a PRC of 22 million ton per annum. For this financial year, as per our contractual obligation, we are we have to do 10 million ton. We on the request of NLC, who is our customer, we have indicated that all going well, we'll be touching 13 million ton this year. One three.
13. Okay, sir. You have given the production for Carmichael mine, what is the offtake over there? The EBIT has been negative, what should we, what will be the trend over there?
As far as this year. Whatever we are mining, we are able to sell it in different countries, that's the strength of Adani Group. We have been, we have been in this business of IRM for last 23, 24 years, so we have a good setup in many countries, and that's how in the first year, second year itself, we are in position to see that all the volume which is going out of our mine are getting loaded into the ships. That, there we're not seeing any problem. We are doing better than what we did last year. As you have seen that Q1 2023, we did 1.6, doubled in this year by doing 2.6.
Okay. A final question. The margins on our solar manufacturing has been very high. Our realizations are also very high when the module prices globally are coming down, what exactly will be the trend going forward? Also, our utilization levels, if I'm not wrong, are somewhere around 60%. Can we see better utilization going ahead as well?
Yes, the last question first, the utilization le-levels will rise because this was, as, a technology change was taking place across the line to TOPCon. That's why, as we-- the lines were stabilizing, so the utilization rate will rise. Margins will stabilize around the number, but margins will not rise, but are expected to stabilize or, or, or very slight decline. We expect that, and the reason for the margins, high margin, is that, technology plus the, the trade flows mean that there's a demand for product from India, and that is what is pushing the margins higher due to the competitive pressures in relation to Southeast Asia, their cost requirements, their sales cost, et cetera. It's an overall global supply-based scenario.
We expect that to continue for some time, but over the longer term, we expect the volumes to be high, margins to be slightly tighter than where they are today.
Okay. Okay, well, that's all from my side. I'll get back with you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Prateek Kumar from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good evening, sir. My first question is on your Capex. Have you highlighted the Capex segment-wise? What is the overall Capex for FY 2024 for company? I mean, given we have, like, completed a large M&A in our group company cement business, and this is probably the first large, obviously, M&A. Are after the Hindenburg report, are you looking for accelerating Capex in Adani Enterprises as well, which was suggested to have a sort of mild slowdown in past quarter?
No, no, I think that was probably, you know, more media than anything else. We'd always said as around 28th, 29th of January, I'd said that in the core businesses, the CapEx will continue. There's absolutely no reason for any of that to happen. That whole frenzy of half-baked articles and stories were related to people's perceptions rather than what we have actually said. What you are seeing is basically the core CapEx, be it Adani Green, be it Adani Transmission, be it Adani Ports, be it Adani Total Gas, be it airports, be it green AEL, be it airports, be it Adani, be it the green hydrogen ecosystem, be it data center, everything is continuing as normal.
It was only the perception outside that something is going to be a slowdown in the core or slowdown. That was never the case. We never said that. What you are seeing here is, naturally, when the opportunity came along, it was a key opportunity for our portfolio company, Ambuja, to acquire a great asset available for which is synergistic to its portfolio, synergistic from a logistics point of view, massively positive in terms of earnings. They did that. If any asset like this comes available to us in a port, a core portfolio, we'll acquire it. Yeah, and therefore, the growth also did not steep. Total CapEx, as we had indicated even last year, this year was around $3.7 billion across Adani Enterprises, and will continue that way.
With regard on the utility portfolio, you know, with the, the utility portfolios and that we have and transport and logistics portfolio we have and the core asset portfolio we have, which is in the primary industry. You know, they, they, they will not. They are driven by the fundamentals of the users and consumers in India, plus the demands in India, which is not changing. A report of, you know, which we have said and our chairman said in the annual report, that was malicious, half-baked, half-truths, half-based misquoting of our own disclosures. That would not change the business. It just causes market volatility, and that's all it was. I think we should not get too excited by market volatility because that's our investment horizon is 30-plus years.
This is the volatility will pass, and it's our obligation to ensure the volatility is manageable. Beyond that, it has no implication on our core business portfolio.
Great to hear, sir. $3.5 billion-$4 billion kind of CapEx for this year. Also, is there an update on commissioning of Copper Project and when closure of Coal to PVC project?
No, Copper Project is on schedule, first calendar, first, calendar quarter next year. We pretty much it's just right on schedule. There are no change, no update, and if there's any update, we'll, we'll naturally bring it to the market. Coal to PVC, we, we are just working through, so on the various reports, preparation, pre-site works, et cetera, and which is, which are ongoing. At the moment, we don't have an update beyond the, beyond the fact that all the prep work is going on, and if there is an update, we will highlight to the market. Otherwise, we'll certainly be updating as to where we are post the sec half year results.
n airports. The timeline for Navi Mumbai Airport was like December 2024. Due to heavy monsoon, was there any impact on construction process like in the last month? Is there any change in timelines? I know it's like still like 15 months end, so it should not highly would have mattered.
No, we've committed to complete. We'll complete as committed.
Lastly, last quarter, we talked about this TotalEnergies SE investment to be in hydrogen project. That seems like off table now, right? Irrespective of that equity investment from that group.
It was like I said, we signed a MoU with them last year. That MoU is still there. They have to complete their DD, which they have to complete. The project is not dependent on that equity, as you know, we are going ahead with the project as it is and at the same pace. That was, that was it is a, if a partner requests us to look at a project that we are doing, we always welcome our partners to participate. The basic philosophy of the group is that investors should invest in majority of our portfolios. TotalEnergies is a very respected partner. We have great relationship with them. They invest in, we invest in 2 public companies.
They invest in one private company with us and another private company with us in terms of marketing. We have four investments with them, and if they express their interest in the fifth investment, we will naturally say: Sure, no problems. That doesn't mean that, that, that investment is a joint investment decision. Investment decision is still Adani Enterprises, and Adani Enterprises is continuing with that investment. We are, we, we will, we do not anticipate, or we do not think, or we anything that we report in relation to the change of, schedule on that.
One more question, and just a clarification. We have given one more segmental, commercial mining and mining services this quarter. This commercial mining, which will start in India, so that will be clubbed with Carmichael mining in commercial mining segment?
Yes. Yeah, commercial mining will be in the, that, that will be... Because we have very highly profitable, very solid, long-standing mining services business, where we are a service provider to various state-owned enterprises and, and so, possibly, so, so in the future to other, non-state, enterprises as well. So it's a, it's, it's a specific business, and we want to make sure that it is understood that way. Commercial mining is, all of commercial mining activities, be it in India or overseas, will fall under the commercial mining, which, which fall under our Natural Resources region, of which, my colleague, Vinay, is the CEO.
Thank you, sir. These are my questions.
Thank you. The next question is on the line of Gaurav Singhal from Aspex Management Limited. Please go ahead.
Hi, thanks for taking my question. Two questions from me. One is, can you help give a breakup of INR 3.7 billion CapEx plan for this year across the different segments?
... Sure. Approximately about $300 million for green hydrogen, $1.1 billion for airports, approximately $1.7 billion for the road network, just under $100 million for water, just under $200 million for the data center, and then, small completion costs for the Copper Project, just under $200 million.
Got it. Thank you. Secondly, in terms of fi- financing the CapEx, I, I, the group I think had-- the board had passed a resolution, to allow the group to raise, I think, about INR 12,500 crore in equity. Is that part of the financing or, or could that not be needed for this CapEx?
No, that doesn't relate to the current project. Current projects are fully funded. As you've seen in the last 3 years, we as a portfolio have raised over $9.2 billion of equity from long-only investors. That is a continuing program for actually from the past 3.5-4 years. The same program, under the same program, last year also, we have sought something similar. This year also, we are seeking the same enabling resolution, because our ongoing normal equity program of about $2.5 billion-$3 billion across the portfolio will continue this year also. Those that is meant for the next 3 years' projects. The current projects are fully funded, so there's nothing required for the current projects.
Got it. just one last thing. Based on the... I, I guess the total debt is right now about INR 38,000 crore or INR 40,000 crore, thereabout, based on the debt-to-equity ratio that has been disclosed. Can you share, like, a split roughly of how much of that would be just Indian banks and non-Indian banks? Also, is this composition expected to change a lot over the next three, four years?
Well, normally the balance sheet is not provided in this quarter results. All I will say is that, other than what disclosed at the annual AGM results, we don't expect any significant variation from what's been highlighted in those results, and neither does the mix change dramatically for our assets. We are very, we are overall at a portfolio level, also, we are very stable debt structure. Most certainly in the half year, the update will be provided on this.
Got it. Thank you.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, we would like to remind participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Dhananjay Mishra from Sunidhi Securities. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity, and congratulations on good operating performance. I just wanted to, I mean, all my questions are answered already. In road segment, because quite a few projects we have achieved 50%-60% in terms of construction. So how many projects are we expecting to be operational this year or next year? Secondly, in terms of new project bidding pipelines, how we have placed in terms of the new projects in road sector? Thank you.
We expect 3 projects to complete this year. On the bidding and all, you know, we don't specifically ever flag our interest. To an extent that meets our guidelines for rate of return guidelines for HAM and BOT projects, then naturally we are interested. Beyond that, I can't really say anything. Out of our 10 projects that we have on stream today, plus the BOT assets and 1 PoP project, 3 of the HAM projects will be commencing, will be completed within this financial year.
All others, except for Ganga Expressway, will be completed in FY 25?
Not all others, but most certainly majority, yes.
Okay.
We should close the-
Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to the participants, anyone wishing to ask a question, may please press star and one. The next question is from the line of Prateek Kumar from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity again. Just one question on your guidance. You historically, you sometimes give figures for expected volumes in IRM and mining services for the full year. What would be the number for FY 2024, which you would expect?
As far as IRM is concerned, it all depends on the demand and supply for the coal in India. If I see the current market and current situation in India, I think we should definitely cross 17 million tons in IRM. Again, it all depends on the real demand of coal in India, as far as coal is concerned. As far as the mining services is concerned, we are targeting to go somewhere closer to 35 million tons in India.
... and, and, and, the solar modules, so this 614, so we should expect, like, what would be the number for solar module segment in terms of megawatt?
The, the, we expect the run rate to continue on, on broadly in, in these, from a quarter to quarter, it is not expected to change. You can expect the run rate at the same level.
Okay. There was, like, particularly there's an adjustment on the base number, which we had from earlier presentations, for solar module segment. What is that related to?
Until and unless you can specifically point out, you know. We don't quite understand your question.
Yeah, module segment, we have done the 614 number this quarter. Last year, same quarter has been reported as 328 from a presentation. We had this, this number as around 260 from prior year's presentation. There's been some restatement of that number, so what is that related to?
Actually, that is quarter one, 2023, not December. It's a quarter-on-quarter comparison. There's no restatement that has occurred. This is Q1, Q1, because the numbers are split into domestic and export. The domestic number in quarter one, 2023, was 309, and export volumes were approximately 19. This quarter first, the domestic is 227, and export volumes are 387. There is no restatement of anything at all. It is just a mix of sales have changed, and that is what's reflected in the presentation on page 18.
Right. Sure, sir, I'll take that offline. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to the participants, anyone wishing to ask a question, may please press star and one.
If there are no further questions, we can close the call.
Sure, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, that is the last question. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Aditya Bhartia for his closing comments.
We would like to thank the management team of Adani Enterprises for giving us the opportunity to host the call. We would also like to thank all the participants for logging in. Sir, do you have any closing remarks?
Yeah, no, we just want to thank the investors for their questions, and thank you for the words regarding the results. We expect to speak to you at the half year results. Thank you.
Thank you, Investec, for taking, ensuring that this call happens. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, everyone.
Thank you, members of the management team. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Investec Capital Services, that concludes this conference call. We thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.