: JSW Ports repays Rs 862 crore debt #finance #StockMarketNEWS #Business Press Trust of India Mumbai The second-largest private sector port operator JSW Ports, which has completed capacity expansion

Posted in: #finance #StockMarketNEWS #Business

JSW Ports repays Rs 862 crore debt #finance #StockMarketNEWS #Business
Press Trust of India

Mumbai

The second-largest private sector port operator JSW Ports, which has completed capacity expansion at an investment of `4,000-crore, eyes to be a net-debt-free company over the next 2-3 years having already pared `862 crore so farthis fiscal.

The company financed the repayments of higher-cost rupee loans from a consortium of lenders, which were priced at 9. 5%, partly with internal accruals and the rest from the 0-mn overseas bond issuance in February this year, Lalit Singhvi, the chief financial officer and a director at JSW Infrastructure, the fully-owned arm of the Sajjan Jindal-run JSW Group, told PTI.

After paying back `862 crore of debt, he said, the company will have on its book a net debt of `2,700 crore and gross debt of `4,200 crore. With this JSW Ports has already repaid over `2,800 crore in the past few years.

The rupee debt was from a consortium of banks comprising Axis Bank, Canara Bank, South Indian Bank, Union Bank of India and Bank of India, Singhvi said, adding following the debt reduction, domestic rating agency Care has upgraded JSW Ports rating to ‘AA’ with a stable outlook.

“We hope to be a net-debt-free company over the two three years as we are done with capex and capacity additions. We also have a steady cash flow of `1,000 crore, thanks to the high margin nature of our business that’s is over 50%. Backing up the plan is the steady growth in the topline, which we expect to cross 45% this fiscal at `3,100 crore from which we expect a cash profit of `1,500-1,600 crore. This should help us pare our all debt and become a net-debt-free company over the next two-three years,�? he said.

JSW Ports operates ports assets at Jaigarh and Dharamtar in Maharashtra with an installed capacity of 153 million tonne per annum. That aside, it operates a 24 million tonne terminal in Fujairah in the UAE on a management contract which mostly handles limestone.

“We may also go for equity fund raising in some time as we are also looking at aggressive growth through acquisitions and are also very keen on participating in the government’s divestment process. Equity raising should be easy given the strong balance-sheet of the company as well the -billion parent,�? Singhvi added.

Last fiscal, the company completed a `4,000-crore capex plan, which began four years ago, through which its capacity has gone up from 81 mt in FY19 to 153 mt in FY22, Singhvi said, adding the company has adequate capacity now and utilization level is only 65% now.

On the bulk cargo handling capacity addition he said, it grew 34% in FY21, and further to 45 mt in FY22, clipping at a growth of 36%, he said and expects the volume to clip past 45% this fiscal 62 mt.