Brands
Adani Ports reports record Q3 profit, revenue and cargo growth
MUMBAI: It seems Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (Apsez) is finding plenty of wind in its sails, as the maritime giant navigated through a stellar third quarter to December 2025. The company’s latest financial results show it is clearly the “port” of call for investors, reporting a consolidated net profit (PAT) of Rs 3,043 Crore for Q3 FY26, marking a 21 per cent leap compared to the same period last year.
The “shore-to-door” specialist reported a 22 per cent surge in revenue to Rs 9,705 Crore for the quarter. Ebitda followed suit, climbing 20 per cent to reach Rs 5,786 Crore. This performance has emboldened the board to hike its full-year Ebitda guidance by a massive Rs 800 Crore, now targeting a total of Rs 22,800 Crore for FY26.
The nine-month (9M FY26) figures tell an even more buoyant story:
. Total Revenue: Rs 27,998 Crore (24 per cent YoY).
. Total Ebitda: Rs 16,832 Crore (20 per cent YoY).
. Total PAT: Rs 9,474 Crore (18 per cent YoY).
. Cargo Volumes: Handled 367 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT), an 11 per cent increase.
While the ports remain the bedrock, the company’s auxiliary engines are firing on all cylinders. The Logistics arm saw revenue skyrocket by 62 per cent to Rs 1,121 Crore in Q3, driven by a pivot toward asset-light services like trucking and international freight. Meanwhile, the Marine segment, bolstered by recent vessel acquisitions in Middle Eastern and African waters, saw revenue accelerate by 91 per cent to Rs 773 Crore, with Ebitda more than doubling to Rs 428 Crore.
Apsez isn’t just sticking to Indian shores. Its International Ports reached a milestone, with quarterly revenue crossing the Rs 1,000 Crore mark for the first time. The recent acquisition of the North Queensland Export Terminal (NQXT) in Australia is expected to further accelerate this trajectory.
At home, the flagship Mundra Port continues to break barriers, becoming the first Indian port to handle a fully laden Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) directly at its jetty. This feat, along with the Vizhinjam greenfield port crossing 1.3 million TEUs in its inaugural year, has cemented the company’s 45.8 per cent share of the all-India container market.
Despite the aggressive expansion, including the Rs 16,000 Crore Phase 2 construction at Vizhinjam, the company’s financial hull remains watertight. Net debt to Ebitda stands at a comfortable 1.9x. The company’s creditworthiness received a “thumbs up” from the Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR), which assigned an ‘A-‘ rating, a notch higher than India’s sovereign rating.
In a move to keep its environmental record ship-shape, Apsez has become India’s first integrated transport utility to adopt the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). With 12 ports already certified as “Zero Waste to Landfill” and a commitment to Net Zero by 2040, the company is proving that big business can indeed go green.
As CEO Ashwani Gupta noted, the company is well on its way to doubling its revenue to Rs 65,500 Crore by FY29. With the wind currently behind them, Apsez looks set to reach its 1 billion tonne cargo target by 2030 without breaking a sweat.
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
