Adani Enterprises (AEL), the flagship of the Adani group, on Thursday reported a 38 per cent fall in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, at ₹450.58 crore against ₹722.48 crore a year ago, bogged down by one-time past airport dues and commercial mining losses.
Revenues inched up to ₹29,180.02 crore from ₹28,943.84 crore, while EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation & amortisation) declined to ₹3,646 crore from ₹3,974 crore, a fall of 8 per cent.
Profits of group firm Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) jumped to ₹2,039.66 crore in January-March 2024 from ₹1,157.55 crore a year ago, while revenues rose to ₹6,896.59 crore from ₹5,796.85 crore
Auditor notes
Both Adani Enterprises and APSEZ on Thursday disclosed they received show cause notices (SCNs) from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which is investigating Hindenburg’s allegations of accounting fraud and stock market manipulation by the conglomerate.
APSEZ said it received notice alleging non-compliance of provisions pertaining to related party transactions in the earlier years with certain parties, essentially, from a “substance-over-form perspective’’.
Auditor MSKA & Associates, which issued a qualified opinion, said “pending outcome of the Sebi’s investigations, we are unable to comment on the possible consequential effect thereof on any of the periods presented in the statement and whether the company has complied with any applicable laws and regulations’’.
AEL said it received two show cause notices from Sebi alleging non-compliance of provisions in respect of certain transactions with third parties and ``validity of peer review certificates of statutory auditors with respect to earlier years’’.
“The management believes there is no material consequential effect of above SCNs to relevant financial statements and no material non-compliance of applicable laws and regulations,” AEL said.
Based on an independent assessment by a law firm on the Hindenburg charges and the Supreme Court order, “the financial statements do not carry any adjustments in this regard”.
AEL auditor Shah Dandharia & Co LLP said on account of pending adjudications or outcome of the investigations by Sebi and “based on our review of related documents, we are unable to comment on the possible adjustments and /or disclosures, if any, that may be required to be made in the accompanying statement in respect of this matter’’.
