Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group, on Tuesday said US-based short seller Hindenburg Research's report was a deliberate, malicious attempt at damaging the conglomerate's reputation and generate profit by driving down its stocks in the short term. He said that the short seller’s report was a combination of targetted misinformation and discredited allegations written by vested interests, according to ANI.
Adani was addressing the group’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2023, where he said the Hindenburg Research released the report just before the Adani Enterprises’ follow-on public offer (FPO). The group was planning to launch the largest FPO in India's history and the short-sller report was a combination of targeted misinformation, and discredited allegations, he said.
“The report was a combination of targeted misinformation and discredited allegations. The majority of them dating from 2004 to 2015. They were all settled by authorities at that time,” he said, and added, “This report was a deliberate and malicious attempt aimed at damaging our reputation…”
In his address to the shareholders during the AGM, Adani mentioned that the group raised several billions from global investors and no credit agency internationally cut any ratings of Adani Group.
He said, "Within the next decade, India will start adding a trillion dollars to its GDP every 18 months. This puts us on track to be a 25 to 30 trillion-dollar economy by 2050 and will drive India’s stock market capitalization to over 40 trillion dollars - approximately a10X expansion from current levels. Our country is now the most exciting land of opportunities. We have always expressed our belief in our growth with goodness philosophy and our track record speaks for itself. Your group will continue to consolidate what it has built while looking at expanding its horizons."
Adani also shared the numbers during the AGM. “Our balance sheet, assets, and operating cashflows continue to get stronger and are now healthier than ever before. The pace at which we have made acquisitions and turned them around is unmatched across the national landscape and has fuelled a significant part of our expansion.”
Adani Group of companies set new financial performance records for FY22-23
- Total EBITDA grew by 36% to Rs 57,219 crore,
- Total income grew by 85% to Rs 2,62,499 crore, and
- Total PAT grew by 82% to Rs 23,509 crore.
- The Group’s accelerating cashflow further improved our net Debt to run rate EBIDTA ratio from 3.2x to 2.8x.
In his statement, he pointed out Adani Group continues to attract global investment partners aligned to our long-term approach of building and operating world-class assets. In March 2023, we successfully executed a secondary transaction with GQG partners of $1.87 billion despite the volatile market conditions. “Our national and international partnerships are proof of our governance standards. The scale of our international expansions is validated by our success in Australia, Israel, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.”
Adani Enterprises
Our flagship company, Adani Enterprises Limited, continued to successfully demonstrate its incubation capabilities with new businesses accounting for a massive 50% of its EBITDA in FY23.
- The key projects include the Navi Mumbai Airport and the Copper Smelter. Both are on schedule. The Navi Mumbai Airport is preparing for Operational Readiness and Airport Transition by Dec 2024
- NDTV is expanding its international programming and coverage to serve a vast range of audiences across the globe.
- Our data centre JV AdaniConneX is on course to set up 350 MW capacity in the short term – and 1 GW capacity in the medium term. This is by far the largest order book in India.
Adani Green
The Adani Group is set to play a critical role in India’s net zero journey. Adani Green Energy Limited, commissioned the world’s largest hybrid solar-wind project of 2.14 GW in Rajasthan.
- Our operational renewable energy portfolio has grown by 49% to over 8 GW. This is the largest operational renewable portfolio in India. Our focus remains on producing the lowest cost green electron at scale – and I would like to reaffirm our target of 45 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.
- We are now building the largest hybrid renewables park in the world – right in the middle of the desert – in Khavda. It will be the most complex and ambitious project that we have ever executed. Spread over 72,000 acres, this project will be capable of generating 20 GW of green energy. And we intend to build it faster than any project in our execution history.
Adani Ports
The ports business continued to be a pillar of strength on all fronts. APSEZ continues to be amongst the most profitable port operators globally with port EBITDA margin of 70% – and, by 2030, we intend to be not only the most profitable port company in the world but also India’s largest transport utility capable of handling a billion tonnes of cargo annually.
- By then, APSEZ will be carbon neutral and will also have tripled its EBIDTA.
- In the next 12-24 months, APSEZ will commission India’s largest transshipment hub in Vizhinjam, and also a port in a Colombo.
- And our acquisition of Haifa Port in Israel will allow us to link our ports all the way across the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean, thereby positioning us to capitalize on both the India growth story and the much larger regional growth story.
Adani Power
We successfully commissioned the 1.6 GW ultra-supercritical Godda power plant and are now supplying power to Bangladesh. This marks our entry into transnational power projects.
Adani Transmission
ATL will also take Mumbai to 60 per cent renewable power making it the first mega city in the world to achieve over 50 per cent power from solar & wind.
Adani Total Gas
Adani Total Gas Limited expanded access to clean cooking fuel to 1,24,000 households this year with a 46 per cent increase in revenue to Rs 4,683 crore. ATGL is transforming into a full spectrum sustainable energy provider with rapidly expanding urban EV charging infrastructure and biofuel businesses.