Adani Ports and SEZ shares jumped over 8 per cent on Wednesday, a day after the port operator reported a 31 per cent jump in its June quarter profit. Adani Ports – India’s largest port developer – was the top Nifty50 gainer today.

Adani Ports’ cargo volume rose 7% during the quarter, outperforming all-India port growth of 4%

Adani Ports reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 836 crore on total income of Rs 1,826.58 crore in Q1. Cargo volume rose sharply to 42.33 million metric tonnes (MMT) in Q1 from 39.61 MMT in the year-ago period.

According to the company, Adani Ports’ cargo volume rose 7 per cent during the quarter, outperforming all-India port growth of 4 per cent. Adani Ports’ Q1 performance was in sharp contrast to the March quarter, when traffic at its Mundra Port fell 3 per cent. (Read)

“A healthy growth in cargo volumes, operational efficiencies and our strategy to increase bulk cargo volumes, other than coal volumes have enabled us to report all round growth in our financial numbers,” said Karan Adani, CEO of Adani Ports.

Market analyst TS Harihar told NDTV Profit that the growth in Adani Ports’ cargo volume was extremely good in last quarter.

“Globally, trade volumes may be picking up, which will benefit Adani Ports,” he added.

In another development, the company said it will completely cut down related party advances by the end of current financial year. The company expects to unwind related party loans worth Rs 1,000 crore by the first half of 2016-15 financial year.

The announcement has been taken positively by investors as Adani Ports’ related party loans have gone up by 5.8 times in the last three years. Such loans form 14 per cent of Adani Ports’ assets currently.

Mr Harihar is bullish on Adani Ports shares. He has a long term target of 295 on the stock.

Jay Thakkar of Sharekhan said a close above Rs 250 will indicate that Adani Ports has broken out from a double bottom formation, which will be a positive sign. He advised investors to buy the stock with a target of Rs 268-279 with a stop loss at Rs 244.

Adani Ports shares closed 7.8 per cent higher at Rs 258.45, outperforming the broader Nifty that fell 1.2 per cent.

Source From : ndtv.com