Sell-off in Adani stocks halts after eight days

Group unveils more steps to restore investor confidence, pare debt

- Ram Saheal, Ujval Jauhari,Swaraj Singh Dhanjal

The sell-off in Adani group stocks halted on Tuesday as the group unveiled more steps to restore investor confidence and reduce its debt, including a plan to repay Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd’s loans worth ₹5,000 crore by March next year. 

On Tuesday, the combined market value of group firms rose by ₹11,506 crore, after eight straight days of decline that saw the group lose more than 100 billion in market value. 

Allegations of stock manipulation and accounting fraud by US short-seller Hindenburg Research sparked the sell-off beginning 25 January.

Tuesday’s gains were driven by short-covering in Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports and bullish activity in Ambuja Cements and ACC.

Meanwhile, earnings of Ambuja Cements beat analysts’ expectations, while Adani Ports missed estimates because ofa forex loss. Adani Ports also announced the repayment of loans to reduce debt and regain investor trust.

For FY24, we are targeting an Ebitda of ₹14,500-15,000 crore and expect to reduce net debt to Ebitda ratio to 2.5X after factoring in capex of ₹4,000-4,500 crore and loan repayment of ₹5,000 crore, which also includes some prepayment,” said Karan Adani, chief executive and director of Adani Ports, after the release of the company’s earnings.