No respite for Adani Green shares despite nod for $442 mn wind plants in Sri Lanka

Adani Green Energy shares continue to stay under selling pressure on Thursday even after the company received approval to set up two wind power plants in Sri Lanka.  Sri Lanka's Board of Investment on Wednesday gave a nod to the wind power projects with a total investment of $442 million.

"The two wind power plants of 350 MW are scheduled to be commissioned in two years and accordingly, they will be added to the national grid by 2025," a statement issued by the board said.

A group of Adani officials are in Colombo to evaluate multiple projects with Sri Lanka. The Gautam Adani-led conglomerate is also involved in building a $700 million terminal project at Sri Lanka's largest port, as per the release.

As per the Sri Lankan Board of Investment, the Adani wind power project will generate 1,500 to 2,000 new job opportunities. The island nation also aims to export renewable energy from its northern areas to southern India.

Sri Lanka, which is facing the worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948, has been struggling with rolling power cuts for over a year as the country struggled to generate sufficient amounts of thermal and coal power, which has prompted the government to fast track renewable energy projects.

Despite this positive development, Adani Green shares were locked in 5% lower circuit for the fourth straight session today. The stock has tumbled 73% in the last twenty sessions, from ₹1,916.80 on January 24 to ₹512.35 intraday today. The largecap stock, having a market capitalisation of ₹81,158 crore, has fallen 83% against its 52-week high of ₹3,048 touched on April 19, 2022.

The correction in Adani Green shares were in line with other group companies as investor concerns remained about the conglomerate’s debt levels and repayment capabilities amidst a report by the U.S.-based investment firm Hindenburg Research, which was released on January 24. In the selloff that began on January 24, Adani group stocks suffered a cumulative loss of more than ₹11,50,000 crore in the last twenty sessions.

On Thursday, most of Adani group stocks were trading in red, barring Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, and Ambuja Cements, while Adani Total Gas, Adani Green Energy, and Adani Transmission were locked in 5% down limits on the BSE. In the previous session, all nine Adani group stocks settled lower, with Gautam Adani-controlled listed companies losing a total m-cap of around ₹51,291 crore to ₹756,502 crore.

Adani Green Energy, the renewable energy unit of the apples-to-airports conglomerate, has reported a 110% rise in its consolidated net profit to ₹103 crore in Q3 FY23, as against ₹49 crore last year. Revenue rose 41% to ₹1,973 crore in the last quarter compared to ₹1,400 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.  EBITDA or operating profit fell 18.22% YoY to ₹853 crore on higher cost of materials consumed. However, on a standalone basis, the company posted a net loss of ₹127 crore for the December quarter of 2022 against a loss of ₹79 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal. The company's revenue from operations also dropped to ₹1,052 crore from ₹2,380 crore in Q3 FY22.