Adani Enterprises retains Rs 10,000 cr-capex plan for FY21 despite weak Q1FY21

Mumbai: Gautam Adani’s Adani Enterprises has maintained it will invest about Rs 10,000 crore on capital expenditure in 2020-21, despite losing time due to the nationwide lockdown amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“In midst of the pandemic, we see opportunity to expand our footprint and we continue to trace our path towards growth with goodness. Our focus continues to remain optimising capital utilisation, strengthening organisational structure to mitigate risk and ultimately laying the foundation for consistent value creation,” Chairman Gautam Adani said.

The flagship company of the Adani group aims to scale up its mining and airport businesses. On Thursday, the company reported consolidated net profit attributable to owners of Rs 30 crore in the first quarter of 2020-21 against Rs 601 crores in the previous year which included a one-time income of Rs 328 crores. Consolidated total income for the quarter was Rs 5,502 crores against Rs 10,686 crore a year ago. The company said volumes across the segments were impacted owing to lower power demand and logistics issues due to the pandemic.

“We are sure we of retaining the capex we announced this year. There may be a spillover to the next year to a small extent for accounting purposes...We will move the capex and align it to revenue flow, so we will compress it towards the second half of the year,” Jugeshinder Singh, group chief financial officer told reporters in a power result conference call.

Separately, group company Adani Power reported a total comprehensive loss after tax of Rs 705 crore for Q1FY21, as against a total comprehensive loss of Rs 266 crore a year ago. Consolidated total revenue for Q1FY21 stood at Rs 5,356 crore, declining from Rs 8,015 crore in Q1F20. The company said that its operating performance was lower mainly due to higher one-time income recognised in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, lower operating profit of Mundra power plant due to lower plant load factor, and incorporation of operating expenses of recently acquired subsidiaries.

"As we continue to seize opportunities of value creation in a challenging market and a fast-changing competitive landscape, we are focusing on operational excellence and sustainability, while taking long term decisions to enhance our strategic capability and resource flexibility. We are committed to fulfilling our promise to all stakeholders and creating lasting value for the nation and society,” Anil Sardana, managing director, Adani Power Limited, was quoted as saying in a statement.