It could very well be direct sun. I just remembered an experiment I did last year with one adenium that had a lot of terminal branches. I had transplanted the 2 month old seedling into a 4" clay pot containing a media of humus, vermiculite and sand. It was in shade in the morning then full sun from noon on. The media dried out too fast (even with daily watering) and the plant stunted. After 6 weeks of this I repotted into my regular media in a plastic 6" pot and it flourished and grew quickly. This pic was taken when the plant was 7 months old.
